Manchester Metropolitan University

Number of places: 164 full-time, 68 part-time

The legal education market in Manchester has had an interesting year. A new provider has entered the market and an existing one has struggled and made redundancies. From what we can tell, the COL’s arrival in Manchester has had less impact on MMU than on BPP. The LPC at MMU has always been focused on preparing students for practice in commercial firms and on the high street, and it is perhaps this breadth of coverage that has kept students coming. Of course, MMU’s fees are also substantially cheaper than at the two professional providers in Manchester, and this must be a key factor that students take into consideration. The introduction of the LPC3 has brought an end to face-to-face large group sessions, and this content is now delivered via online tutorials. The tutors have used the resulting timetable gaps to schedule some whole-group consolidation sessions. As these take place throughout the course, students have the chance to flag up any problems they have with the course materials early on. The course features a virtual law firm – Jordan Maxwell – as well as a vast array of additional careers advice, such as podcasts from partners at local firms discussing topics such as the credit crunch and how it has affected the legal market. There is a dedicated careers adviser and a raft of pro bono activities, such as links with POPs – a charity that helps the partners of prisoners. Students generally have a connection with the North West, whether through family or previous study in the region. There is a fee discount for graduates from MMU, and we’ve learned that there are typically quite a few Trinidadian students on the course, who come to Manchester to qualify before returning to practice in Trinidad.