City Law School

The City Law School is one of the five schools of City, University of London. In 2001, the Inns of Court School of Law became part of City, and is now known as the City Law School. Until 1997, the ICSL had a monopoly on the provision of the Bar Vocational Course (BVC; formerly known as the Bar Professional Training Course, or BPTC, and now known as Bar Vocational Studies, or BVS), the obligatory professional training for would-be barristers in England and Wales, before they commence pupillage. The School was previously divided into two sections across two campuses; the academic instruction section is based in the Gloucester Building, next to the university's main campus on Northampton Square and Grays Inn Place, where the professional legal training programmes were based. From September 2021, a new building for the City Law School was developed close to the main campus. The City Law School provides legal education at all stages, including a three-year undergraduate Bachelor of Laws (LLB) programme, a two-year Graduate Entry LLB degree programme, the Master of Laws (LLM) and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) course (formerly known as the Common Professional Examination). The latter programme enjoys a nationwide reputation as one of Britain's elite qualifying diploma courses for non-law graduates. The School also teaches the Legal Practice Course (LPC) for would-be solicitors. In 2007, it received the highest grading from the Law Society of England and Wales for its academic provision. Approximately 1600 students are enrolled at the City Law School each year. History The Inns of Court School of Law (often abbreviated as ICSL) was founded by the Council of Legal Education in 1852. It was a professional legal training institution based for 100 years at Lincoln's Inn and then at Gray's Inn in London. Until 1997, the ICSL had a monopoly on the provision of the Bar Vocational Course (now the Bar Professional Training Course), the obligatory, pre-pupillage training course for intending barristers in England and Wales. Before that time, the Inns of Court were responsible for the education of those intending to become barristers. There was call during the nineteenth century for the education of barristers to be unified and thus the Council of Legal Education was formed, and the ICSL founded. Since 2001, the ICSL has been part of City, University of London.