Legal Practice Preparation: research-informed, employer-led module design

This paper reflects on designing a module for the new LLM in Legal Practice. The course trains aspiring solicitors and the module teaches essential workplace skills additional to traditional practice area modules and Solicitors Qualifying Examination preparation modules.
Two aspects of the quality assurance process will be considered; firstly, consulting employers. A questionnaire was sent to local legal employers, asking their most desired and/or often-lacking skills for potential trainees. I worked backwards from these, envisaging students having these skills at the end of the module, then how these would be best assessed, then how to teach them. I also considered research on skills-competency leading to better wellbeing for trainee solicitors (Soon et al., 2022), hoping to reduce student burnout and imposter syndrome during the course, and as trainees and newly qualified solicitors. This focus has helped employers become more invested in the course, built stronger relationships between them and myself, and enabled my practice to be industry-informed.
The second strand will consider internal scrutiny, which is later in the approval process. Here, colleagues discussed a first draft of the module specification, noting that assessments should help students to perform well in the legal workplace. To make my practice research-informed, I reviewed literature surrounding authentic assessment, creating two assessments: a reflective piece on skills gained throughout the module and a commercial awareness presentation emulating a common task for assessment centres for trainee solicitor roles. Authentic assessments can help aspiring solicitors, not only by emulating tasks they will conduct during a graduate job, but by encouraging reflection on these tasks, offering a realistic simulation (Sotiriadou et al., 2019) of another aspect of assessment centres.
This paper aims to help colleagues understand opportunities within the course design process, particularly relating to improving graduates’ skills, building relationships with employers, and creating authentic assessments.