What happens after PGDL?

Nov 01, 2024

Written By Natasha Jones

The PGDL – Postgraduate Diploma in Law – is one of several law conversion courses for non-law graduates wishing to qualify as a solicitor or barrister in England and Wales. It is now being offered at providers such as the University of Law and BPP Law School. What happens after studying the PGDL will depend on whether you want to become a solicitor or a barrister.

Aspiring barristers

Let’s start with aspiring barristers. To become a barrister in England and Wales, candidates must complete the following:

- The academic stage of Bar training

- The vocational stage of Bar training

- The work-based learning stage of Bar training (more commonly known as a pupillage)

After completion of the PGDL, you will have completed the academic component of Bar training.

At this point, if you want to qualify as a barrister, you must move on to complete the vocational stage of training.

Before completing the vocational stage, you must ensure you’ve passed the Bar Course Aptitude Test (BCAT) and joined an Inns of Court (the professional associations for barristers).

The vocational component involves completing either the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) or the new Bar Training Courses introduced in 2020.

Time constraints apply, however, as aspiring barristers must start the vocational stage within five years of completing the academic component. After five years, your academic qualifications are considered ‘stale’ by the Bar Standards Board (BSB).

To find out more about the work-based learning stage of Bar training, view our pupillage resources.

Aspiring solicitors

If you want to become a solicitor, what happens after completion of the PGDL depends on whether you are in the ‘transitional cohort’ or whether you must qualify under the SQE route.

Visit our SQE course guide to learn the ins and outs of the SQE, the new route to qualifying as a solicitor that was introduced on 1 September 2021.

Transitional cohort

Aspiring solicitors who had completed, started or accepted an offer of a place (or paid a non-refundable deposit) for the PGDL before 1 September 2021 are in the transitional cohort.

This means they don’t have to qualify as a solicitor under the new Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) route. Instead, they can choose to qualify under the Legal Practice Course (LPC) route.

For those choosing the LPC route, after completing the PGDL, to qualify as a solicitor you must:

- Pass the LPC

- Undertake a two-year training contract

- Pass the Professional Skills Course (PSC)

- Meet the SRA’s character and suitability requirements

So, enrolling on the LPC is the next step in your journey to becoming a solicitor.

SQE cohort

Under the SQE route to qualification, the road to becoming a solicitor is much less rigid.

In addition to having a degree (or equivalent qualification) in any subject, the SRA specifies that aspiring solicitors must:

- Have two years of full-time (or equivalent) qualifying work experience (QWE)

- Pass the SQE assessments (SQE1 and SQE2)

- Meet the SRA’s character and suitability requirements

The SRA doesn’t specify how you should prepare for the SQE assessments. Because of this, candidates have much more flexibility in terms of their next steps.

A candidate who has just completed the PGDL will have gained a grounding in the foundations of legal knowledge tested on SQE1. It is up to them to decide whether they want to take a focused SQE1 preparation course, for example, or progress onto a course that combines SQE1 and SQE2 training as part of a Master’s degree.

They could of course take an entirely different approach. That is the beauty of the SQE route.

Alternatively, candidates without QWE – one of the mandatory requirements to qualify under the SQE route – may wish to start looking for work experience that can be used to bank QWE. This QWE may itself help to prepare for SQE2, the SQE assessment that tests practical legal skills.

As long as aspiring solicitors can meet the SRA’s four requirements, the exact route they took to do so is unimportant.

PGDL/CPE