Business of Law Explained: Law
- Robert Greene
- Tuesday 07th December
- 2 min read
The Professional Skills Course (PSC) is the final stage of compulsory training before qualifying as a solicitor. If you study the PSC at The University of Law, you will have the opportunity to develop specialist legal knowledge on the Business of Law programme.
What is the Business of Law programme?
The Business of Law is not a course in its own right. Instead, it is a programme that integrates four key competencies, which employers are looking for, into The University of Law’s PSC offering. This means that as well as completing the PSC, trainees will develop the key skills they need in practice.
The four Business of Law competencies are: Business, Law, Self, and Working with Others. In this article, we will focus on the Law competency.
If you would like to know more about the Business competency, check out our article, “Business of Law explained: Business”.
What is the Law skill?
It will come as no surprise to anyone reading, that lawyers are expected to know the law! After all, you can’t say “lawyer” without saying “law”. But let’s face it, lawyers cannot know everything! If you study the PSC at The University of Law, you will have the opportunity to develop in-depth knowledge of an area of law which interests you.
The Law competency on the Business of Law programme focuses on black-letter law and technical competence. The Contentious Skills Electives and Non-Contentious Skills Electives, in particular, allow delegates to choose modules in an area of law that interests them. These modules may be of interest to trainees hoping to train or qualify in a particular practice area.
The Contentious Skills Electives are sub-divided into seven areas of law: Criminal Law, Dispute Resolution, Employment Law, Family Law, Personal Injury, and Private Client. Each area offers a range of specialist modules. In Employment Law, for example, delegates can learn about employment contract, disputes in the workplace, and employment tribunal advocacy.
The Non-Contentious Skills Electives are sub-divided into four areas of law: Commercial Law and Intellectual Property, Commercial Property, Corporate Law, and Private Client. Again, delegates have the opportunity to develop specific legal knowledge about their areas of interest. In Private Client, for example, delegates can learn about estate planning, will and inheritance tax, and wills trusts and tax. These modules build on the knowledge delegates will have gained from studying their undergraduate degree, GDL or LPC.
The core and elective modules also train delegates how to research like a lawyer. The Knowledge Management – Improving Research Skills module in particular aims to improve delegates ability to identify issues and research the law for themselves.