College of Law York | Graduate Diploma in Law | GDL | CPE

The College of Law as a whole has a very high ranking with regards to providing both the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). In the most recent Law Society rankings/inspection, every College of Law institution throughout the country was awarded the highest marks in every category.

It should also be noted that many larger firms specify that their future trainees attend The College of Law, particularly City firms, where students can take part in firm-specific LPC+ programmes, which are tailored to their firm. The status of the College has always been very high and no doubt will continue this way in the future.

As far as developments, the College have recently opened a brand new centre in Manchester, increasing the total number of centres to seven, which in itself shows the success of this institution and the fact that it is in great demand.

The building itself in York is relatively new and has very much a collegiate feel to it due to its relatively small size. The building comprises of, as expected, classrooms of various sizes, a careers office, a library, a pro bono office, a canteen, a common room area, and several computer rooms. There are also a couple of football / rugby pitches on the grounds, as well as tennis courts, with changing facilities in the College for student use.

As the class sizes range from 15-20 students, the classrooms are quite small. There are no GDL ‘lecture theatres’ in the university sense, but there are a few bigger classrooms where weekly lectures take place.

The library is on two floors and has all the statute and case law books required during the course. Although the library is well stocked, most students opt to use the electronic sources for the majority of the work, which gives you access to many reputable legal databases. There are a large number of computers in the two main sections of the library, as well as two silent-study computer rooms downstairs, and some other silent-study rooms on the second floor.

The College offers free printing facilities which are especially useful come revision/exam time, as well as photocopying and phone-charging facilities, both of which you have to pay for. The librarians are also available to assist with problems regarding the use of the LexisNexis database, and there is a LexisNexis representative who is available at the College, with whom you can arrange tutoring sessions to improve your knowledge of the database’s workings.

The canteen / common room is the main communal area within the College. The canteen serves breakfast and lunch, and offers a decent range of hot and cold food and snacks. There are also several vending machines, a coffee machine and a water fountain. There is also a large 24-hour Tesco Extra approximately a five-minute drive away. There is table tennis, table football and a pool table which you can enjoy for a small fee (apart from table tennis which is free) and are quite popular during the lunch break.

Next to the canteen there is another computer area with approximately 20 computers, which is a more relaxed environment in which to work compared to the library. There are also several benches and tables outside on the patio which doubles up as a smoking area and a lunch area for when the weather is good.

Presumably as is the case with all the centres of The College of Law, the staffing numbers are such that they can meet the requirements of the students. The workshops range in size from 16-20 students, which are then divided up into tables of four students that you stay in for every workshop for a set period of weeks. You will have four workshop sessions per week, each of 2.5 hours in length with a 10-15 minute break in the middle.

You can opt for a two-day week with lessons all day or a four-day week with lessons in the morning and afternoon. All students have Wednesday free for private study. Total contact time is about 11 hours per week on average. In terms of self-study, this could vary greatly from week to week. The College of Law operates a system known as ‘i-Tutorials.’ These are meant to be an overview of that week’s topics (via the internet), and you are provided with gapped handouts on which to make appropriate notes.

Once you have undertaken the i-Tutorials and reading, there are then ‘Test & Feedback’ exercises, effectively mini-tests with anywhere from 10 to 20 questions each. The structure of the workshops is very similar throughout the year. Occasionally, there are consolidation tasks for students to do in their own time following the workshop, but apart from that no follow-up work is required.

The overall level of support at the College is very good, with all tutors very approachable and always more than happy to help. Each group is assigned a personal tutor to whom they can direct any questions or problems, and meetings are arranged throughout the year for each student with their personal tutor to discuss a range of matters. It is also possible to contact all tutors via email. Telephone numbers for personal tutors are also provided at the outset.

The College itself is situated out of the main city and well away from the city walls. It is located between an area known as ‘South Bank’ where most students tend to live and a small village called Bishopthorpe. It is positioned next to York Racecourse, which is expansive, hence why there is not much else surrounding the College building.

As such, the College is in very quiet surroundings with little outside distraction. There is free parking at the College which proves very popular, or alternatively you can walk there or catch a bus which stops right outside. York contains everything you would expect any other city to have.

There is a good selection of stores in the main shopping area, and if you venture into the smaller, cobbled streets, you’ll find some more unique shops, for example, lots of confectioners, beer / ale shops selling many of the locally brewed and more obscure international beers.

In terms of grocery shopping, there is a huge 24-hour ‘Tesco Extra’ near the College and most of the students’ accommodation, and some other ‘Sainsbury’s Local’ stores within a 10 – 20 minute walk of the College itself. Transport within the city seems to be good. It also has good bus links with Leeds, as well as a large train station with rail links to London and other northern cities such as Manchester and , Sheffield.

Leeds in particular has a train service until approximately 3am, which starts again at around 6am.York is also easy to access via car, particularly with the A1 / M1, and the M62. Many people commute from Leeds and Hull to the College, both of which are only about an hour’s drive away.

Being one of the UK’s oldest cities, the nightlife is somewhat different to the larger northern cities. There are only a few clubs, ‘Gallery’ and ‘Toffs’ being the most prominent, but there are others such as ‘Ziggy’s’ and ‘Reflex,’ an 80’s club, and ‘Fibbers’ which plays host to many up-and-coming bands.

York is more renowned for its abundance of drinking establishments, with supposedly more places to drink than days of the year. There is a huge amount of pubs, many of which sell different local ales for very reasonable prices. With regard to sports and societies, the College has rugby, football, netball, basketball and rowing teams. There is a very open approach to these extra-curricular activities.

The fees for the 2008 full-time LPC at York are £9,100. The part-time LPC is £4,550 for year one. This includes all classes, access to i-Tutorials, use of all facilities within the College, materials for preparatory work and class work, books and examinations. The Solicitors Regulation Authority fee of £110 is not included within this fee. You also need to join the SRA as a student member which currently costs £80 as is paid directly to the SRA.
General costs for everything else are the same as any other northern city.

The most you will pay in York to get into a club is around £3, and the College offers tickets for discounted / free entry to certain clubs at certain times of the week. The same applies for accommodation costs. Local accommodation can be anything from £50 to £100 a week.

There is an active careers service within the College at York that is known to be extremely helpful. There are careers consultants and a very helpful secretary within the careers office, whom you can go to in order to speak about a variety of matters, whether it be applications for training contracts or preparation for interviews or alternative career paths.

The College operates a service called ‘Vacancy Alerts’ sent to all students via email as and when the College is notified of such vacancies. These vacancies range from work experience to paralegal work to training contract positions, not only within the UK but also abroad and for a vast range of firms. You can also tailor your alerts specifically to the firms or type of work that you are interested in.