Nottingham Law School

Nottingham Law School (also known as NLS) is a law school in the UK with over 100 full-time lecturers and over 2,500 students.^[3] It is an academic and professional institution, part of Nottingham Trent University. Not to be confused with the School of Law at University of Nottingham.^[4]

The institution specializes in different fields of education in law.^[5] Nottingham Law school's main goal is to provide their students careers that they are guaranteed after the completion of their graduation.^[6]

The faculty of Nottingham Law School was known for developing and creating the Legal Practice Course that includes the training and schooling of law designed courses that deal with the actuality of the legal system, demonstrating the different skills required for indulging with law in the year of 1990s.^[7] With the development of the new designed course, the professors and teachers of the Nottingham Law School decided to take the initiative of enrolling more students into the program.^[8] The law school also took the stance on initiating part-time students into the course, as well as raising the number of seats in the course for students enrolled in full-time study.^[9] Nottingham Law School guaranteed their future applicants in the year of 2014 that their Legal Practice Course would present their students with the best education, guidance, and preparation amongst the many other law universities.^[10] The Law School assures their students that with the enrollment in their school and with the help of their qualified professors, the school guarantees all their students with instant occupations from a quick start of completing the degree.^[11] Also, Nottingham Law School participated in running the Law Society Final Examination with a number of 150 students enrolled in the course.^[12]

The Law School has been given the top 'Excellent' rating by the Law Society and comparable ratings by the Bar Standards Board of England and Wales every year since its inception. It also has a significant reputation for research, particularly in insolvency and international criminal justice, with 60% being judged as of international standard in the most recent 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.

Since 1977, Nottingham Law School has also produced its own annual law journal; the Nottingham Law Journal.^[13]

Courses

Nottingham Law School provides a range of undergraduate LLB and postgraduate LLM degrees. The School also provides professional legal education including the Graduate Diploma in Law conversion course, the Legal Practice Course, for intending solicitors, and the Bar Professional Training Course for intending barristers.

Professional

BPTC

The Nottingham Law School has been accredited for being one of the nine universities that provides courses in the assistance of the Bar exam, that has been known as the Bar Professional Training Course.^[14]

Legal Practice Course

The Legal Practice Course offers three different routes: the standard, the commercial and the corporate. It further provides 7 specialties, from which students can register and choose the top 2 of which field they desire.^[15] These specialties are the following: "corporate finance, commercial law, advanced litigation, employment, commercial leases, family, and client in the community." ^[16] The Nottingham Law School provides different groups of meetings to help the student with certain skills, and support in assisting the students practice the different skills, and activities.^[17] The Legal Practice Course supports their students in providing them accurate real life problems related to the field law, in which the students have to indulge in solving matters, through demonstrating their vast skills learned from the credible teachers and staff of the faculty of law.^[18] The duration of the course meetings varies according to the choice of the students enrolled in full time study.^[19] Students of Nottingham Law School registered in the Legal Practice Course have to commit to 13 days of concentrated studying, regardless of whether it is at home or at the workplace.^[20]

Legal Advice Centre

The law school also hosts the Legal Advice Centre at Nottingham Law School.^[21] Founded in 2006 as the Legal Advice Clinic, the centre experienced growth threefold by the year 2012^[22] and reopened as the Legal Advice Centre in 2014 with a purpose-built suite in the University's Chaucer building.^[23] The centre provides free legal advice on a number of areas, including debt, housing and employment law.^[24] Advice is generally given by Nottingham Law School students on a pro bono basis, with the centre aiming to "give law students a flying start to their legal career".^[25]

Notable alumni

• Chuka Umunna, Labour MP for Streatham.
• Paul Carr, Writer, journalist and commentator.
• Thomas Brennan, barrister involved in the widely publicised^[26] bank charges case of Brennan v National Westminster Bank [2007] EWHC 2759 (QB).^[27]
• Iain Naylor, noted industrialist, philanthropist, and author of The Importance of Good Chat.
• Alyn Smith, SNP MEP for Scotland.
• His Honour Judge Avik Mukherjee, full-time judge at Birmingham Crown Court.^[28][29]

Notes and references