Kent Law School is excited to announce the launch of new MLaw Advanced Legal Practice which is now open for applications for September 2023 entry. Head of the Law School, Rosemary Hunter, said, “we are very pleased to be offering this new programme which is an innovative response to the changing regulatory environment based on Kent Law School’s distinctive approach to legal education and will equip students for entry to the legal profession of the future.”
This integrated Masters of Law (MLaw) qualification will equip students for the Solicitors Qualifying Examinations (SQE) route and open doors to a wide range of legal careers in government, the non-profit sector or academia. Students undertaking this four-year course will enhance their understanding of the foundations of legal knowledge, with the fourth year being the opportunity to blend traditional vocational training with an intellectually rigorous and engaging interrogation of legal practice.
Joshua Hayes, current 3rd year Law & Philosophy Student, said, “I have decided to stay at Kent to do the MLaw because I believe in KLS’ critical approach to the study of law and believe that learning the functioning legal knowledge required for the SQE at Kent will make me a more rounded lawyer.”
During their studies, law students get the opportunity to work on real cases in Kent’s award-winning Law Clinic. Additionally, in their fourth year, MLaw students will have an exclusive opportunity to access a Paralegal placement scheme to accumulate qualifying work experience with a variety of different law firms, many of them local to Kent. This will then enable a number to experience practice on a weekly basis alongside their final year of studies.
Victoria Sampson, Training Partner at CooperBurnett LLP said, “CooperBurnett fosters a culture of supporting and training the next generation and we are thrilled to be part of this new initiative to enable, empower and encourage students into the profession via the MLaw Paralegal scheme.”
Director of MLaw and Senior Lecturer, Per Laleng, is looking forward to welcoming the inaugural cohort of MLaw students:
“Our MLaw provides students with a unique and exciting opportunity to prepare for the SQE whilst honing their critical thinking and intellectual competencies required by a variety of rapidly changing professions. Unlike many other SQE-prep courses, Kent’s MLaw aims to make professional vocational training interesting, innovative, and intellectually challenging. Kent law students value the KLS approach to teaching and learning about the law, and the professionals we have spoken to have told us how impressed they are with our offer. So, we are now really looking forward to working with our first MLaw students come September.”
One of the key objectives of the profession in introducing the SQE route was to increase diversity within the profession. Kent already has a diverse student population with 59% of first-year entrants in 2022/23 coming from non-white backgrounds. This diverse student body will feed directly into the MLaw. In addition, the MLaw enables our students to acquire the functioning legal knowledge they will need to pass the SQE without having to find additional postgraduate funding. This is because they can use a government undergraduate loan to pay for the whole course. This makes the MLaw affordable and accessible to a broader range of student.
For further information on the MLaw see the Kent Law School website here https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/5801/advanced-legal-practice