MA / GDL or Accelerated LLB?

[Dan12]

Hi,
I am considering retraining in Law - I have an Undergraduate Degree in History of Art, and a Masters Degree in Fine Art, and 15 years experience of working in a senior capacity in a government arms-length body in England. Retraining would allow me to specialise in the areas of my current role which I find particularly interesting and challenging.

I am Scottish, and in the long-run I would hope to return to Scotland to be closer to family and friends. I have applied for two-year Accelerated LLB Courses (Scots Law) at several Scottish Universities.

I am also considering either the MA (Law) and the GDL at The University of Law, which although more costly, have the benefit of being condensed into a single year.

I am trying to weigh up the costs and benefits of each - eg would I be better studying towards the GDL / MA and then take a training contract in England, with the option to requalify in Scotland at a future date? Or should I be thinking about the process in reverse?

Any advice welcome!

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

If you ultimately want to end up in Scotland, I would go with the Scottish qualification route. You could always cross qualify via the SQE rather than taking the GDL->LPC->two year training contract route, to qualify into England & Wales too.

The SQE in many ways is the better route for someone like you anyway - the flexibility it provides is far better for someone in your situation rather than the restrictions of the existing system.