College of Law
Number of places: 4,750 full-time, 2,000 part-time across all centres
The College of Law is already everywhere and yet it continues to expand. Not content with two London branches, city centre sites in Birmingham and Manchester, and more suburban locations in Chester, York and Guildford, COL will now offer a Bristol-based LPC from 2010. Although a ‘professional provider’, COL was given degree-awarding powers in 2006 and so students who complete both the GDL and LPC there will also be able to receive an LLB. Although detractors say this undermines the qualification and that law firms don’t particularly care whether an applicant has an LLB or not, it is always nice to add a few letters after your name. Possibly of more relevance is the opportunity for COL LPC students to top up their qualification with an LLM.
Like the other ‘professional providers’ BPP and Kaplan, COL has been enormously successful in its bid to sign exclusive LPC-provision deals with some of the larger law firms. Students on these firm-specific courses can expect to spend their year in the glass, metal and leather-dominated surroundings of COL’s Moorgate branch before they embark on their careers at firms such as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Linklaters, Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and Berwin Leighton Paisner. Unlike BPP, however, COL is well known for the diversity of its student body and it offers a number of very different routes through the LPC course. These include a corporate route, a commercial and private route, and a legal aid route.
COL has been steadily updating its course over the past few years and therefore the introduction of the LPC3 in the 2009/10 academic year will make little difference to how the course is taught. It has led the way in the provision of online teaching, and for the past year it has provided all lecture-format teaching via i-tutorials, which students stream directly from ELITE (an online resource page which carries all the course materials as well as links to online resources such as LexisNexis and Westlaw). I-tutorials are used in conjunction with textbook study and online multiple-choice 'Test & Feedback' exercises as compulsory preparation for small-group workshops. These workshops take up about ten hours a week. The overwhelming consensus is that the online teaching works well: most students like the fact that “you can do them in your own time” and find them “incredibly useful for revision purposes as you can go through them again and keep everything fresh in your mind.” Even the online 'Test & Feedback' exercises were praised as “a useful means of self-testing your understanding.” The workshops themselves are “functional and effective rather than especially inspiring” and always involve a great deal of group interaction on whiteboards. Students do find this “quite repetitive at times” but “it does provide [them] with a handy set of precedent answers when it comes to the exams,” which follow an (extremely popular) open-book format.
The careers service is “forever organising talks and presentations” and students are able to log into a database containing a list of up-to-date UK-wide training contract and paralegal vacancies. For students hoping to boost their CVs, COL has ample opportunities in the form of mooting and debating competitions and pro bono activities.
College of Law, Birmingham
Feedback from past students is overwhelmingly positive. This branch is located in the Jewellery Quarter of the city, which makes it easy to enjoy Birmingham’s lively social life and many amenities. We had a number of reports of students making “really good and lasting friendships” on the course. And it would seem that the fun never ends as “a lot of the graduates go to Birmingham firms and so when we organise trainee nights out we also know the trainees at other firms in the city and can invite them along.” As the building is still relatively new, everything is “impressively shiny and up to date.” Extra-curricular activities include pro bono placements at the Birmingham Employment Rights Advice Line or the Refugee Council, and there is also a French legal exchange with L’Ecole d’Avocats in Lyon.
College of Law, Chester
As one of COL’s more rural sites, Chester is not a sensible choice for those who thrive on city buzz. If you’re more into the countryside then we’d say it’s a fantastic place to study, and its graduates agree. “I loved Chester,” gushed one enthusiast, “it is a beautiful place and it has fantastic shopping.” For students who can drag themselves away from the shops, there are plenty of relevant extra-curricular activities on offer, including training as a Mackenzie Friend to support victims of domestic violence or participation in a witness support scheme. Many of the students who choose Chester are headed for law firms in the North West.
College of Law, Guildford
“In many ways Guildford feels more like a smart school than a university or law school. It is set on a beautiful little campus and you feel incredibly well supported by all of the academic staff.” This feeling is amplified by the range of school sports-style activities that take place on the large lawns in front of the main building. The location is incredibly popular with students who want to avoid London living but still have decent access to the capital. Most Guildford students always rave about the “fantastic” social scene, even though some do find it a touch cliquey. Most students will at some stage make a trip to “a great little pub called The Ship, which is just outside the gates and serves fantastic pizza from a wood oven.” Teaching staff are said to be “accessible 24 hours a day if you need them.” The location attracts individuals with a whole host of legal aspirations. There are a large proportion of City-bound students, clinging onto their final year out of the fast lane, as well as those preparing for careers in the Home Counties.
College of Law, London (Bloomsbury) and College of Law, London (Moorgate)
COL is one of the cheaper providers in London and easily undercuts its closest rivals, BPP, City or Kaplan. It is also seen as one of the “obvious choices” and many students come here without having really thought too much about their options. Few are greatly disappointed by their experience, whether they are stationed at the “slightly cramped and worn around the edges” Bloomsbury branch or in the “extremely smartly built and well kitted-out” premises opposite Slaughter and May’s office at Moorgate.
The Bloomsbury branch operates out of two buildings on Store Street, just off of Tottenham Court Road. The location is popular thanks to its proximity to the night spots of Covent Garden and Soho, and the swanky bars and restaurants of nearby Charlotte Street. Despite an abundance of choice, students commonly end up in the next door College Arms, which frequently tempts them in with student discounts and other irresistible offers. COL has an in-house cyber café, in which students can while away the hours between classes. It has to be said that the layout of this branch is far from perfect, with regular complaints directed at the multiple flights of stairs in the Ridgmount Building and a general shortage of IT resources throughout. Get past niggles regarding the facilities and the teaching is second to none, with students praising the “thorough preparation” that they receive for exams. The teachers are also on call to deal with any last-minute panics, thanks to a hotline which is manned by staff in the run-up to exams. Bloomsbury students can choose any one of the commercial, private or legal aid routes.
Moorgate may only be less than two miles from Store Street and yet it is a world apart in terms of facilities. The lobby sets the tone with a broad glass façade and angular leather sofas. Venture further inside and there are wide, shiny lifts to all floors and a library with row upon row of available PCs. Should students grow tired of this monochrome visage, there is a fantastic view onto the green outfields and perfectly maintained wickets of Bunhill Fields. Moorgate students all take corporate route LPCs and most will be heading to the City firms that surround this prime location. Unfortunately this means there’s a distinct shortage of student-priced bars in the vicinity and some sources criticised the lack of comfortable social areas within the building. Said one: “In terms of a professional education environment it’s very good. Socially they need to step it up a bit.”
College of Law, Manchester
New in 2009/10
College of Law, York
York is another of COL’s campus-based locations, and once again student feedback suggests that the experience is “not unlike being back at primary school as it is such a lovely set-up and everyone knows your name.” There’s a full complement of sports teams and a social committee organises everything from a pantomime to ski trips. A good proportion of the students end up training with local, regional or national firms with offices in the area. Tutors meanwhile earn considerable praise; “they are extremely friendly and approachable. The majority of them were either ex-solicitors or still [practise] part-time, so they can give anecdotal examples to help students learn and remember things in exams.” There’s an abundance of extra-curricular activities, including shadowing advocates in court, advising asylum seekers and participation in an Eversheds-run mock Crown Court criminal trial.