Master of Laws of England and Wales (incorporating the GDL

Entry requirements

Applicants should either have at least a second class honours degree or have equivalent experience or training, normally from within the work environment.

Students wishing to undertake the Master of Laws of England and Wales degree for the purpose of qualification as a barrister must:

• Hold a UK/Republic of Ireland degree, awarded at or above 2:2; or
• Have been granted a Certificate of Academic Standing by the Bar Standards Board on the basis of an overseas degree or a non-standard UK/Republic of Ireland degree; or
• Have been approved by the Bar Standards Board Qualifications Committee as suitable for admission as a mature student.

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

Designed to be flexible to meet your needs, this master’s course is delivered entirely online with no live classes for you to attend.

As part of this course, you’ll:

• Study core foundation subjects in law, to prepare for the next step towards becoming a solicitor or barrister
• Learn in our Virtual Learning Environment, supported by MS Teams activities
• Focus on an area of law that interests you during your Independent Research Project
• Specialist supervisor support is available on a wide variety of topics from medical negligence to anti-terrorism law

Distance learning requirements

To study this course, you’ll need to have a broadband internet connection with a speed of 2mbps and working speakers. You’ll need Windows 7 / Mac OSX 10.8 or above and have access to Chrome v63 or higher (recommended), Edge v42+, Firefox v57+ or Safari v6+. Java and Adobe Acrobat Reader will need to be enabled and you’ll need a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Visit our distance learning guide for complete technical requirements.

Law Trove

You’ll be able to access a wide range of law textbooks online for free through Law Trove, a subscription-only service offered by Oxford University Press.

Law in Practice guest lectures

We regularly welcome guest speakers in prominent legal positions to share their experience of the profession. Previous speakers in our Law in Practice: Guest Speaker Series include human rights campaigner Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, and Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.

Get support with planning your career

Our Careers Service is on hand to support you with all aspects of planning your career, including writing your CV, job applications and how to make the most of industry and graduate fairs.

Leeds Law School mentors

We've been teaching law qualifying courses since 1979 and many of our graduates now act as mentors to our students. A mentor will help you to get ahead by offering career advice, work experience and sometimes even job opportunities.

Join a student society

We have active student law societies - including Law Distance Learners - who organise social, networking and career-focussed events for our student community.