Robert Gordon University to run distance learning DPLP

A distance learning version of the postgraduate Diploma in Professional Legal Practice is to be offered by the Robert Gordon University.

The Law Society of Scotland has accredited the course, which from September 2018 will offer Diploma students a similar opportunity to undergraduates who have taken the university's online LLB degree over the past seven years.

This utilises software programs which allow the delivery of recorded lectures and live online sessions, enabling tutorials, presentations and skills exercises such as negotiations and moots.

For the first year of the new Diploma, places will be restricted primarily to those individuals who have undertaken the online LLB and are familiar with the software and teaching methods used.

Val Bremner, course leader of the Diploma in the Law School who also has experience of leading the online LLB, commented: "What has worked and continues to work well for our online LLB is that it appeals to students who have work or family commitments preventing them from moving to the city or town of their chosen university.

"However, up until now, graduates of that programme have found that if they intend to carry on and complete their Diploma, they have no option but to move. Introducing this online Diploma delivery remedies that.

"At a time when technology is playing an ever-increasing role in the way that the legal profession in Scotland operates, we are delighted to be in a position to use that technology to help improve access to the profession."

Professor Ken Mackinnon, head of the Law School, added: "The programme will not only provide a further option for LLB graduates and paralegals progressing along the Law Society's existing alternative route, but also for students who find online study more convenient. Lecture materials will be available when the student wants to access them and the live classes will primarily be in the evenings, outside of work hours.

"The technology also opens up the possibility of practitioners in smaller towns, with an interest in professional legal education, taking part in tutoring. I am keen to see practitioners across the country supplementing our existing team."