The CPE (Common Professional Examination) Graduate Diploma course is designed to enable non-law graduates to qualify to practice law in England and Wales. It fulfils the requirements of both the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board for the academic stage of qualification. Students on the CPE course have a wide range of backgrounds and experience, with first degrees from institutions all around the country and from abroad. A second class degree or equivalent is a minimum requirement for entry. Higher degrees or additional qualifications are advantageous, as is work experience. Work within a commercial or legal environment, or voluntary work with an organisation such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, can be helpful and relevant. CPE students who pass the course are guaranteed a place to study for the LPC (Legal Practice Course) at one of the sites offered by the College of Law or at Staffordshire University. Our research strengths lie in interdisciplinary and contextual approaches to the study of law, as well as in doctrinal legal research, making Keele an excellent environment for graduate students to undertake an intensive Law conversion course of this sort.

The course will be open to graduates who do not hold a qualifying degree in Law, but who wish to become solicitors or barristers. The course is designed to satisfy the academic stage of professional legal education. The overall aim is to provide the students with an intensive legal education which, taking into account their transferable postgraduate skills and expertise, will maintain the standard of academic work and examination provided on the first degree programme. Accordingly, it is intended that the Diploma will provide non-law graduates with a further and valuable academic qualification as well as offering an alternative method of completing the academic stage of training for qualification as a barrister or solicitor in England and Wales. The course is also intended to offer a recognised qualification even for those who do not ultimately enter the legal profession.