You don’t need a law degree to be a solicitor or barrister. The Common Professional Examination or Graduate Diploma in Law allows you to convert to law, regardless of your the subject you graduated in.

About 30% of new trainee solicitors and barristers are non-law graduates who have taken a conversion course. For many, law may not have appealed to them at 18; equally, others may move into law later in their career, and a conversion course can provide a perfect bridge from one graduate career to another.

CPE or GDL – which law conversion course?

Some providers use the title Common Professional Examination (CPE) and others Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). Although they have different titles, in essence there is no difference between the courses in core content and professional accreditation. Both courses allow progression to the vocational stage of training, the Legal Practice Course (LPC) for solicitors, or the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) for barristers.

The distinction is that CPE was the historical title used by professional bodies to denote professional conversion courses and GDL has subsequently been used by some providers to describe the qualification.

What law conversion courses involve

The CPE/GDL is an intensive, year-long foundation in legal knowledge and skills. The course doesn’t cover the full range of subjects available on a three-year degree programme, but it provides the skills and methodologies to pick these up in the future.

The two-year Senior Status law degree offers an alternative to the CPE/GDL. This degree covers the foundations of legal knowledge required for the completion of the academic stage of training. Further details of these courses are available from The Law Society.

CPE/GDL course content

The CPE/GDL covers the essential foundations of academic legal knowledge needed to progress to the LPC or BVC:

• law of contract
• law of tort
• criminal law
• equity and the law of trusts
• land law
• public law
• EU law.

During the one-year course, there isn’t much scope to go beyond these core areas. Many courses offer additional optional subjects, which vary from course to course, and depend on timetables and resources.

CPE/GDL workload and hours

Full-time conversion courses last for a minimum of 36 weeks, which involve at least 32 weeks’ tuition, with the remaining four weeks being taken up with assessments. The Central Application Board states that the estimated study hours for the CPE/GDL are 45 hours of lectures, tutorials, private study and research in each week of the course.

This may be a culture shock, particularly for arts graduates who are used to considerably less time spent in lectures, tutorials, etc. Part-time programmes are spread over two years with a more flexible pattern of study.

CPE/GDL entry requirements

A minimum 2.2 is usually required, but in a competitive job market most employers require a 2.1 or higher. Non-law graduates may have different skills and experience; equally, a good performance on the CPE/GDL can strengthen academic credentials.