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LPCers!

I was just wondering how it was going for you all? What is the work load like? Are you enjoying it? :smile:

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Reply 1
I'm loving it! There's a lot of work, but it's quite manageable and I'm finding at the moment that if I work 9-5 each day, I don't need to do too much else. It maybe helps that I did the CPE, though, as the workload is fairly similar to last year - if anything, I actually have less work than I did last year! I also like the variety, e.g. they make up cases and give us proper files and stuff, complete with letters and emails in different fonts etc! I like it, anyway... :redface:
Reply 2
I don't think I've managed to stick to a 9-5 yet!
that bit about the fonts seems to show just how boring ur days are!! lol
Reply 4
Lewis-HuStuJCR
that bit about the fonts seems to show just how boring ur days are!! lol


Dragon means that they give us professional materials, Oyez forms, letters from 'other' solicitors etc to show us how to manage files, conduct transactions, etc etc.

Kirstin...

The workload is *heavy*. There is no getting around this - the LPC makes undergrad look like a holiday. Yes, even during those final few months of exams, assignments and a dissertation...

You have to be ready for it, you cannot blag anything, you have to do *all* the reading, no skipping it as the course is not 'taught' as such - you are expected to do all your own reading and understand things before you arrive at classes. Classes are to the apply that knowledge practically.

However nothing I have yet done has been difficult ie I can't get my head around the concept - its just the sheer volume and dedication, deadlines and consistency that is a shock. You're so used to basically pleasing yourself as to when you work at undergrad - you can do 2 12hr days then have a few days off. You simply cannot do this on the LPC - its 5 hours a day minimum to keep up.

Tutors just do not accept excuses. You are a baby lawyer, and expected to act like a real one. You even have to ring in sick when you are ill, and attendance registers are kept from all lectures and classes. You cannot fall below a certain percentage attendance. (without good reason)

Saying all that, I am enjoying it.
It's challenging, very different to undergrad, and because it puts a practical slant of being a lawyer rather than the academic slant, its easy to see the point in everything you are doing. (which can be difficult at undergrad when you are writing about 'piercing the veil' or some other rubbish!)
We have spent a lot of time initially on skills such as interviewing and advising, writing and drafting, professional conduct, etc., which helped to get into a 'lawyer' frame of mind.

Plus everyone in my class is very supportive and fun, and there are none of the 'attitude problem' students I got at undergrad, those who think they can just cruise along and distract the focus of seminars and suchlike.
So the classes are very constructive and on the whole, enjoyable.
Reply 5
I have to respectfully disagree elle :p: I found that I could just blag the workshops. I was caught out a couple of times but I basically did very very little real work during the year.

The assessments were different - I took those seriously. The workshops and SGSs though I didn't really do much prep for except a bit reading. I barely went to any lectures during the electives and the ones I did go to were only to sit next to a girl I fancied. Tutors didn't notice/ care (certainly in relation to the useles lectures anyway). I think I only attended about 3/10 workshops for one fo the electives and only 2 of the SGSs. Nothing was said despite us getting the "if you don't have at least a 75% attendance rate, we'll issue you with a formal warning" talk. I took the course very seriously for about a month and then stopped paying much attention. If it's open book and you have an idea how to answer the exam Qs then it shouldn't be a prob. Like I say though, the assessments can be a bit tricky.

Ended up with a 71 average (but only a commendation due to only getting 3 modules of 70+ when you need 4 for a distinction).

Maybe it depends on your provider. I was at Northumbria.
Reply 6
It probably does depend where you study. The way Ellewoods has described the LPC is very similar to my experience so far. I haven't missed anything yet, but they're certainly keeping a very close eye on everyone and I don't think anyone would get away with missing lots of classes or failing to prepare. The upside of that is that I feel they're treating us like people rather than numbers and I'm also finding the sessions much more useful than last year, because everyone's prepared and actually seems to want to learn.

I'm also enjoying all the skills aspects, though I think I was more nervous for my first advocacy practice than I've ever been for anything in my life! I haven't plucked up the courage to watch the DVD yet...
Reply 7
I was talking to a postgraduate student today and she's come back to uni to do an LLM after taking her LPC last year and she described it as "really easy" and she said "they give you everything". I didn't believe her, surely it's not that easy?!
Well read what Ellewoods said and that other guy ... if soemone can pass missing that much then it cant be hard, and Elle said specifically that she had not struggled with a single element so far and that it was just pure volume that screwed her.

With the pass rates the LPC has (like 90%+) it cannot be difficult when compared to undergrad, I would just say there is far far more to do.

Sounds like the LPC is very much taught like at NUS we dont have lectures, we have to do all the reading and just have 3hr seminars (damn long time) for each topic once a week, and we get screwed over if we have't done it, mainly because class performa ce normally carries a 10 or 20% score...
Lewis-HuStuJCR
Sounds like the LPC is very much taught like at NUS we dont have lectures, we have to do all the reading and just have 3hr seminars (damn long time) for each topic once a week, and we get screwed over if we have't done it, mainly because class performa ce normally carries a 10 or 20% score...

Part of my first year was assessed like that. I thought it was a terrible idea. I don't see how your personal contribution can be assessed that well at all. There are so many people in a seminar, the leader has to give time to as many as possible and often the better points that you could have answered just as well as any other student is picked up by that other student :mad:
So you don't get to show that you know the material as well.
I think that it would be much better an assessment procedure if it was done in smaller tutorial classes because then people would feel more comfortable in having something to work towards.
Lewis-HuStuJCR
Well read what Ellewoods said and that other guy ... if soemone can pass missing that much then it cant be hard, and Elle said specifically that she had not struggled with a single element so far and that it was just pure volume that screwed her


At what point did I mention that I was "screwed"? Sometimes Lewis you are ridiculously offensive. I'm glad you are not in any of my classes.
Vitriol01
I have to respectfully disagree elle :p: I found that I could just blag the workshops. I was caught out a couple of times but I basically did very very little real work during the year.

The assessments were different - I took those seriously. The workshops and SGSs though I didn't really do much prep for except a bit reading. I barely went to any lectures during the electives and the ones I did go to were only to sit next to a girl I fancied. Tutors didn't notice/ care (certainly in relation to the useles lectures anyway). I think I only attended about 3/10 workshops for one fo the electives and only 2 of the SGSs. Nothing was said despite us getting the "if you don't have at least a 75% attendance rate, we'll issue you with a formal warning" talk. I took the course very seriously for about a month and then stopped paying much attention. If it's open book and you have an idea how to answer the exam Qs then it shouldn't be a prob. Like I say though, the assessments can be a bit tricky.

Ended up with a 71 average (but only a commendation due to only getting 3 modules of 70+ when you need 4 for a distinction).

Maybe it depends on your provider. I was at Northumbria.


I would like to respectfully disagree with the spirit of this post!

I think it probably does depend on your provider. I have friends at College of Law and BPP, either starting this year like me or having completed the course last year, and this sort of attitude, attendance work rate simply wouldn't be acceptable - or got away with - at any of our institutions.

I would like to make the point that "blagging" and just passing the LPC is not the point of the course.
We are being trained for a profession, learning skills and vital information to make us good lawyers.
I would be more concerned about how good a lawyer I was going to be if I hadn't worked hard and paid attention during the LPC, rather than being satisfied with managing to drag myself through it on miminal effort.
ellewoods
I would like to make the point that "blagging" and just passing the LPC is not the point of the course.
We are being trained for a profession, learning skills and vital information to make us good lawyers.
I would be more concerned about how good a lawyer I was going to be if I hadn't worked hard and paid attention during the LPC, rather than being satisfied with managing to drag myself through it on miminal effort.


That's an excellent point. Someone on my course was saying the other day that he has a friend who did the LPC without putting much effort in and regretted it once he started his training contract and realised he didn't know as much as he should. It really is worth making the most of the training on offer.
ellewoods
At what point did I mention that I was "screwed"? Sometimes Lewis you are ridiculously offensive. I'm glad you are not in any of my classes.

:stupid:

:damnmate: **Whacks Lewisy-boy over the head** :damnmate:
Reply 14
superdillon


:damnmate: **Whacks Lewisy-boy over the head** :damnmate:


:toofunny:
Reply 15
ellewoods


I would like to make the point that "blagging" and just passing the LPC is not the point of the course.
We are being trained for a profession, learning skills and vital information to make us good lawyers.
I would be more concerned about how good a lawyer I was going to be if I hadn't worked hard and paid attention during the LPC, rather than being satisfied with managing to drag myself through it on miminal effort.



These are good points. The Legal Practice Course is designed to start developing you into lawyers from law students.

The importance of the course goes beyond the subject matter itself. Dealing with time pressures, the need to absorb large amounts of material and the requirement to adequately prepare in advance are all skills which are vital once you start as a trainee. Its also a good time to start developing the appropriate professional attitude which you're going to need for the rest of your life as a lawyer - i.e. to do your job to the very best of your abilities.

Clearly I didn't adopt this approach at law school myself. Rather I skim read chapters in the books, cribbed housemates' notes and cringed at my lame advocacy attempts....
What the hell ... no need, I used screwed merely as a colloquial term for it being the problem ... how exactly is that offensive.

However, if the use of such terminology does indeed offend you, then I am sorry ... the thin skull rule applies and I must take my victim as I find them.

I agree with your point on class participation super although the professor appears to have a freightening knowledge of who everyone is for a 50 strong class! However, he has now said that our marks come mainly from attendance ... with some extra marks available for when we do our presentations on the 4 research topics (but since each topic had about 13 ppl doing it he isnt giving much weight to it since everyone scrounges off each other). I totally agree with marks for attendance, free points!
Lewis-HuStuJCR
However, if the use of such terminology does indeed offend you, then I am sorry ... the thin skull rule applies and I must take my victim as I find them.

;laugh; ;laugh;
Lewis-HuStuJCR
However, if the use of such terminology does indeed offend you, then I am sorry ... the thin skull rule applies and I must take my victim as I find them


LOL! :p:
Excellent retort :wink:
Reply 19
In my case the thick skull rule applies :p: