Admission to practice law
In England and Wales, one does not have to be admitted to the bar to practice law, but qualifications are required to become a solicitor or barrister, both of whom are qualified lawyers and have special rights of audience in law courts. For both the solicitor and barrister professions, one must either obtain an undergraduate law degree (LL.B., which typically lasts three years), or complete the Common Professional Examination/Graduate Diploma in Law (which lasts one year after completing an undergraduate degree). Potential barristers must complete the Bar Professional Training Course (formerly Bar Vocational Course), followed by a year of vocational training known as a pupillage and be member of the four prestigious Inns of Court. Potential solicitors are required to complete the Legal Practice Course which lasts one year, then a two-year apprenticeship under a training contract, during which the trainee solicitor has to complete a Professional Skills Course. Chartered Legal Executives (formerly known as Fellows of CILEx) undertake a series of training courses and are required to pass qualifications relevant to the area of practice in which they intend to specialise. The first stage for the full vocational route to qualifying is called the CILEx Level 3 Professional Diploma in Law and Practice and is set at the equivalent to A-level law. The second and final qualifications are equivalent to an honours degree course - the CILEx Level 6 Diploma in Law and Practice. Trainees will often work at the same time as studying in order to acquire practical skills. The courses can be undertaken at a college, university or through an open learning programme. The courses are open to graduates and non-graduates. Chartered Legal Executives qualify after completing their CILEX training followed by a minimum of 3 years' qualifying employment. Chartered Legal Executives may do to a wide range of legal work although, like solicitors, they generally specialise in one area. After completing their academic training, trainee Legal Executives often occupy paralegal roles to satisfy the 3 year vocational stage of qualifying as Chartered Legal Executives.
Solicitors Regulation Authority. Accessed February 18, 2009. Notes on Applications for Certificate of Exemption from the Common Professional Examination.
Juris Doctor
Until the mid nineteenth century, most law degrees in England (the BCL at Oxford and Durham, and the LLB at London) were postgraduate degrees, taken after an initial degree in Arts. The Cambridge degree, variously referred to as a BCL, BL or LLB, was an exception: it took 6 years from matriculation to complete, but only three of these had to be in residence, and the BA was not required (although those not holding a BA had to produce a certificate to prove they had not only been in residence but had actually attended lectures for at least three terms). These degrees specialised in Roman Civil Law rather than English Common Law, which was the domain of the Inns of Court, and were thus more theoretical than practically useful. Cambridge reestablished its LLB degree in 1858 as an undergraduate course alongside the BA, and the London LLB, which had previously required a minimum of one year after the BA, become an undergraduate degree in 1866. The older nomenclature continues to be used for the BCL at Oxford today, which is a master's level program, while Cambridge moved its LLB back to being a postgraduate degree in 1922 but only renamed it as the LLM in 1982.