Becoming a solicitor with the Legal Practice Course (transitional requirements)

You can qualify on the LPC route if you are one of the following:

1. You already have a qualifying law degree (QLD) or an exempting law degree (ELD) before 1 September 2021.
2. You had started a QLD or ELD before 1 September 2021.
3. You had accepted an offer for QLD/ELD by 21 September 2021and started the course before 31 December 2021.
4. You deferred a QLD or ELD offer for the academic year 2020/21 and then started your course by 31 August 2022 (inclusive). You will need to keep evidence of your deferral to be accepted onto the LPC.

This means if you started a law degree, for example, in September 2023, you cannot take the LPC. You can only qualify as a solicitor through the SQE route.

What if you were a non-law graduate who had a PRT offer?

Some non-law graduates may have accepted an offer of a PRT before 1 September 2021, for example, in their second year of their degree. In this case, you must have started your GDL course by 31 August 2022 (inclusive).

You need to keep evidence of your PRT offer to be accepted onto the LPC. This could be correspondence between you and your training provider accepting the offer of a PRT.

Qualifying with a period of recognised training

Once you have the LPC or an ELD you will need to complete a PRT to qualify through the LPC route.

Qualifying through Equivalent Means

You could qualify using Equivalent Means. To do this, you will need to demonstrate that you have the equivalent skills and experience gained through a PRT.

Qualifying using qualifying work experience and SQE2

We will also recognise a combination of qualifying work experience and passing the SQE2 assessment as equivalent to the PRT. Find out more about this.