PGDL Jan 2022 at Ulaw vs SQE

[Adsk811]

Hi everyone.
I am sorry if this has been asked before but here goes: My question is based on my future career choice of wanting to qualify as a lawyer in UK.

I have been offered PGDL at Ulaw and I ended up deferring it to January 2022. Course start date shows as 31st Jan 2022. While I intend to qualify as a Lawyer in the United Kingdom, I am confused whether PGDL is the way to go especially in 2022 since the arrival of SQE.

Is PGDL a valid option for a Lawyer with 5 years experience in India who want to qualify as a lawyer in UK? Or Shall I just wait for SQE courses to be more clear?

I am hoping to sort my Visa and be able to qualify. So, PGDL in 2022 is a yay or nay for an Indian Lawyer?

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hi everyone.
I am sorry if this has been asked before but here goes: My question is based on my future career choice of wanting to qualify as a lawyer in UK.

I have been offered PGDL at Ulaw and I ended up deferring it to January 2022. Course start date shows as 31st Jan 2022. While I intend to qualify as a Lawyer in the United Kingdom, I am confused whether PGDL is the way to go especially in 2022 since the arrival of SQE.

Is PGDL a valid option for a Lawyer with 5 years experience in India who want to qualify as a lawyer in UK? Or Shall I just wait for SQE courses to be more clear?

I am hoping to sort my Visa and be able to qualify. So, PGDL in 2022 is a yay or nay for an Indian Lawyer?

You shouldn’t need to do the PGDL - it is ultimately only a SQE prep course for you in this situation as you won’t be eligible to take the LPC route to qualification.

As a qualified lawyer in India, you only need to take the SQE assessments to become qualified - you have no work experience requirements. I also suspect a lot of your learning in Indian law will apply to English law, and so a prep course is probably the better option (cheaper, shorter etc).

 

[Adsk811]

Thank you Jessica, you are very helpful. I was unsure why Ulaw is insisting that I must do PGDL! You have cleared my doubt.
Wish you (&me) all the best with our careers.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Thank you Jessica, you are very helpful. I was unsure why Ulaw is insisting that I must do PGDL! You have cleared my doubt.
Wish you (&me) all the best with our careers.

Because they are trying to sell you a course that was once compulsory (although as a qualified lawyer you didn’t have to do it even in the past system, you could have taken the QLTS instead), and is no longer compulsory. A large part of their marketing tactics is to rely on naivety especially with international applicants (unfortunately).