LPC students still in COVID-19 limbo on assessments

Apr 28, 2020

Written By Billy Sexton

COVID-19 has had a huge impact on all professions and industries, and legal education is not exempt.

The situation has developed rapidly, with the SRA (Solicitors’ Regulation Authority) initially called for LPC assessments to be postponed, but subsequently performed a u-turn and their current position is that there remains the “need to be assured that students who pass an LPC have the necessary knowledge and skills for the early stage of their career in practice.”

However, the SRA recognises that it will be “challenging to meet these requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic and so for this period, we are relaxing our current assessment requirements for all parts of the LPC. This means that for skills assessments and elective subjects, LPC providers may make alternative assessment arrangements. For the core LPC subjects, we will maintain our requirements for supervised assessment, but we will consider applications for online or remote proctoring of supervised assessments.”

LPC providers require approval from the SRA before making any changes to assessments, but the two market-leading universities that provide the LPC, The University of Law and BPP, have yet to announce how their LPC students will be assessed. The University of Law has said that it is “working closely with… regulators to adapt their current requirements”. BPP is “currently finalising our proposals to put to the SRA.”

Hollie Lewis, an LPC student at The University of Law, has completed her core assessments but still needs to undertake her elective examinations. Hollie will sit these online even though The University of Law has offered students the opportunity to sit exams at a later date in person. “I perform well in a traditional exam environment, but I feel like the whole situation is going to put my life on hold for a few years. I’m very apprehensive about the future”.

For students studying an LLB or GDL, it is at the sole discretion of the university as to how assessment and final marks will be awarded during this period of uncertainty.

Covid-19