Graduate Diploma in Law


The Graduate Diploma in Law/Postgraduate Diploma in Law/Common Professional Examination is a postgraduate law course in England and Wales that is taken by non-law graduates wishing to become either a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales. The course thus allows non-law students to convert to law after university ; it is also commonly known as a "law conversion course". Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the course is designed as an intense programme covering roughly the same content as a Law degree LL.B and the main goal is to allow people with a greater variety of educational backgrounds into the legal profession.
Most GDL/PGDL courses award a diploma and are thus often titled Common Professional Examination. Common post-nominal abbreviations include LL.Dip, or Dip.Law.
The GDL/PGDL is one or two years long, and successful candidates may proceed to either the Legal Practice Course for solicitors or the Bar Professional Training Course for barristers. It is regulated by the Law Society of England and Wales with admissions handled through the Central Applications Board.
Some law students study for four years, making it possible for both non-law and law graduates of the same starting year to finish at the same time, with the CPE providing the "foundations of legal knowledge".

UK course providers

In 1977, the former Inns of Court School of Law launched their GDL/PGDL/CPE programme, which was the first of its kind in England and Wales.
The GDL/PGDL tends to be offered through private institutions or universities. The largest course providers are BPP Law School, City Law School and The University of Law.
The GDL/PGDL is also offered by several British universities including Cardiff University, the University of East Anglia, Keele University, the University of Sheffield, the University of Sussex, Swansea University, Birmingham City University, Manchester Metropolitan University, London Metropolitan University, the University of Westminster, Middlesex University, De Montfort University, University of East London, Nottingham Trent University as well as Oxford Brookes University.