From the Publisher

What is LPC Skills Online?

LPC Skills Online is an interactive online product which helps students get to grips with the skills they need to master in order to achieve success on the Legal Practice Course. The web site is divided into distinct areas dedicated to each of the skills on which students are assessed: legal writing and drafting; interviewing and advising; practical legal research; and advocacy. Making full use of video and audio material, students are guided through over 60 interactive exercises, which give them the opportunity to actively practise the skills. A further area of the site brings all of the skills together in a case study, enabling students to put each of the skills into action in a realistic and practical scenario.

Accompanied by a short text which outlines the key principles behind the skills and gives examples from practice, this all-in-one resource offers students an intensely practical and interactive environment in which to develop their skills. Reviewed by the LPC tutors throughout its development, this resource is ideal for any LPC student or LPC lecturer who wants to provide their students with an innovative and engaging way to develop their skills. This blended learning approach ensures that the product complements lecturers' own teaching styles and any materials they may already provide for their students. The resource is not intended to replace teaching, but to offer a means for students to practise effectively the skills they need to master.

What's available online?

Coverage of all the necessary skills

The dedicated skill areas can be accessed in any order and at any time, making this resource compatible with the structure of any LPC. Each skill area begins with a videoed introduction by the author, who explains what will be covered. This is followed by a short filmed interview with a practitioner who explains how the skill would be used in a training contract or in the first few years of practice.

Interactive exercises

Following the video introduction, students are led through a series of interactive exercises. These may involve watching a video and answering multiple choice questions, building up a letter to a client by choosing the most appropriate paragraph from a selection, or listening to an audio file and drafting an attendance note from what has been heard. Exercises are set in a variety of legal contexts, from conveyancing through to commercial law, ensuring that students develop skills which are genuinely transferable.

The student is offered comprehensive feedback at the end of each exercise, enabling students to make full use of the resource at home, or away from campus, making it particularly suitable for students studying by distance or block learning. Students can log out at any time and the online resource will record their scores in an individual 'My Scores' page which can be used to identify areas where more work is needed. When students re-visit the site, they can continue where they left off, or start somewhere new.

Supplementary exercises

The online resource can also cater for different levels of ability. Many of the exercises have accompanying supplementary exercises. Students who score less than 50% in the initial exercise will be directed towards these supplementary exercises in order to build up their knowledge in this area before moving on to develop the skill further. You can also choose to attempt a supplementary exercise when you have scored over 50% in an initial exercise but would like further practice in the topic area.

Reflective Diary

Students are encouraged to reflect on their learning through the use of a Reflective Diary. This diary is in the form of a Word document which includes various headings which prompt students to consider what they have learnt and how they might be able to improve. Students are then able to save their Reflective Diary documents wherever they choose, making this part of the resource compatible with any personal development record system already in place within the institution.

What's available in the text?

The short text is structured to mirror the online resource and includes important background information, including key principles and examples. Students are also given important advice on how to use the reflective diary effectively. For Practical Legal Research, the text is used to set out research problems; the online resource then includes exercises testing the rigour of the research the student has completed. Skills are the most practical element of the LPC, and in recognition of this, the authors have placed the emphasis of this product on the online component as it offers the student a more interactive experience. The key attraction of this resource is that it encourages students to actively practise the skills required on the LPC, rather than simply read about them passively.

This approach also ensures that the product complements lecturers' own teaching styles and any materials they may already provide for their students. The resource is not intended to replace teaching, but to offer a means for students to practise effectively the skills they need to master.

Contents List
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Reflective Learning
Chapter 3: Writing
Chapter 4: Drafting
Chapter 5: Interviewing
Chapter 6: Advocacy
Chapter 7: Practical Legal Research

How do students access LPC Skills Online?

Inside each text, a unique access code enables the student to log on and register with the web site. They will be able to then choose their own username and password for use every time they log on subsequently. Each unique access code can only be used once and is not transferable, ensuring that students' results and scores are securely stored and not accessible to other students. The student's account will be active for two years from the first use of the unique access code or until 1 September 2013, whichever is earlier; after this time the student's account will expire.

From the Authors

We wrote this resource (we hesitate to call it a book as we hope that the book part will be very much secondary to the interactive part) because this is what we would have liked to have had when we were training as solicitors. There are many good books available on this subject, but we firmly believe that there is nothing like activity for helping you to learn, especially when what you are learning is something practical like a legal skill.

Learning by experience is wonderful, but you need to be able to put your skills into practice in your assessments on the LPC and from the earliest days of your training contract if you want to impress your firm. We designed this resource so that you could get plenty of practice at the skills you need and that your firm wants you to have, with plenty of feedback so you can see how you are progressing and how you can perform even more effectively. We hope you find it useful as we know we would have done!

We would both like to thank our families for their support during the writing of this resource and everyone who gave us helpful feedback.

Liz Polding
Jill Cripps

Acknowledgements

This resource has been reviewed throughout its development. Oxford University Press the authors would like to thank those LPC lecturers whose feedback and advice has been so helpful:

Ralph Camp, Hertfordshire University
Kate Campbell-Pilling, Sheffield University
Samantha Cornock, University of the West of England
Rachel E. Cooper, Sheffield University
Nick Dearden, Manchester Metropolitan University
Louise Douglas, Manchester Metropolitan University
Fiona Fargher, Liverpool John Moore's University
Lucy Floyd, Oxford Institute of Legal Practice
Helen Fox, Staffordshire University
Viv Ivins, University of Central Lancashire
Keith Gompertz, Birmingham City University
David Hartley, Birmingham City University
Russell Hewitson, Northumbria University
Lyn Jones, Manchester Metropolitan University
Martin Jones, University of Central Lancashire
Phil Knott, Nottingham Law School
Phil Millington, University of the West of England
Sheree Peaple, De Montfort University
Amanda Rees, Swansea University
Adrian Savage, Nottingham Law School
Emma Whewell, University of the West of England
Deborah Wotton, BPP Law School

In addition, we would like to thank the following practitioners who are featured online, talking about their experiences of legal skills and those who helped make it possible for Oxford University Press to film these practitioners:

Jamil Ahmed, Shanklys Solicitors Ltd, Manchester
Martin Bourne, Darbys Solicitors LLP, Oxford
Malcolm Hacking, Hacking Ashton LLP, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Shree Hindocha, Henmans LLP, Oxford
Jon Viner
Patrick Whetter, Henmans LLP, Oxford

Credits

For Credits click here.

LPC Skills Online Guided tour

For LPC Skills Online Guided tour click here