LLM in Legal Practice and Advanced Drafting Assessment Regulations

G1

The taught modules for the LLM in Legal Practice and Advanced Drafting (the LLM) are identical to those offered on the Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice. As such and in accordance with the requirements of the Solicitors Regulation Authority these modules shall be governed by the Assessment Regulations for the Legal Practice Course, with the exception of Section 1 and Section 3.

The further assessment rules set out below shall also apply to the LLM in Legal Practice and Advanced Drafting.

Candidates pursuing the LLM will not automatically be considered for the award of Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice and will only be considered for the Postgraduate Diploma if they fail the LLM or chose to withdraw from the University.

G2

The Pass mark for modules will be set at 50%. Credits will be awarded to candidates who pass a module.

G3

Candidates who accumulate 180 credits in total may qualify for the award of a degree. The overall degree classification shall be calculated based on the average mark of each module pursued.

G4

Decisions on progression for full-time candidates shall normally be taken at the end of Semester Two, which includes a supplementary opportunity period. Award decisions will be taken at the end of the third semester and will be confirmed by the University Progression and Awards Board. For part-time students progression will be confirmed at the end of the year.

G5

At the discretion of the Examination Board, full-time candidates who have been unsuccessful in any taught module may be permitted up to two further attempts to redeem their failure in accordance with the LPC Assessment Regulations, provided that this can be achieved within the time limit for the degree (maximum of five years from the date on which the student attempted the first assessment).

G6

Candidates, who satisfy the examiners at an attempt to redeem a failure, shall only be eligible for a mark-up to the capped threshold of 50% in each such module, irrespective of their actual level of performance. The University Progression and Awards Board shall refer to the capped/the best mark in determining the average for award.

G7

Candidates, who fail to redeem a taught failed module at the third attempt, will be required to withdraw from the University. Such candidates shall have no further opportunity to complete their programme of study, and shall only be eligible to be considered for an exit qualification. Candidates who are required to withdraw from the University will be given no further attempts to redeem their modules and will not be eligible to transfer credits to another programme of study at Swansea University, and their studies will be terminated. Normally, a candidate with a decision of “required to withdraw from the University” shall not be re-admitted to that same programme of study, or to a cognate programme, without the approval of the Recruitment and Admissions Committee.

G8

A candidate who is to be re-examined in set projects or other forms of course assessment shall not be permitted to re-submit modified versions of his/her original work, but shall be required to submit for assessment new work on different topics from those which originally failed to satisfy the examiners. This does not apply to the directed independent learning module.

G9

Candidates shall not be allowed to elect to repeat any module which has been passed in order to improve their performance.

G10

Candidates who feel that they are affected by extenuating circumstances relating to the taught modules should refer to Section 10 of the LPC Assessment Regulations, which take precedent over the University’s Extenuating Circumstances Policy. Candidates affected by extenuating circumstances relating to the directed independent module should refer to Swansea regulations relating to extensions to the submission deadline/candidature in Section 4 of the Specific Regulations for Swansea Flexible 180 Credit Master's Degrees.

G11

Candidates shall not be eligible for commendation/distinction in accordance with the , but will be considered for merit/distinction in accordance with the regulations below (G12 and G13).

G12

Candidates, shall be eligible for the award of a Master’s degree with merit provided that they meet all of the following conditions:

• There are four marks in the class (i.e. four subject marks being above 60% across all three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Elective Areas) in their taught modules;
• Every assessment in their three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Areas must have been passed without a referral and they must not have been referred in more than one assessment in Stage 1 of the course (other than an assessment in a Core Practice Area);
• An overall average mark of not less than 60% and not more than 69.99% is achieved for the whole programme.

G13

Candidates, who have passed every assessment in their taught modules without an in-course re-assessment or referral and who have four marks in the class (i.e. four subject marks being above 70% across all three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Elective Areas) shall be eligible for the award of a Master’s degree with distinction provided that they achieve an overall average mark of not less than 70% for the whole programme.

G14

Candidates who do not complete the programme and/or withdraw from the University may, depending on the number of credits accumulated, be entitled to an exit qualification. 

Candidates exiting with a PG Diploma will only be eligible to qualify as a Solicitor in England and Wales if all of the taught credits are completed in accordance with the LPC Assessment Regulations. Such candidates shall be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice.

Candidates exiting with a Postgraduate Diploma consisting 60 taught credits and 60 credits of directed independent learning will not be eligible to qualify as a Solicitor in England and Wales. Such candidates shall be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Drafting.

G15

Candidates exiting with a Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma shall be eligible for the appropriate award “with Merit” where he/she has passed the requisite number of credits and has attained an overall average mark of not less than 60% and not more than 69.99% for the award in question.

In addition, candidates exiting with a Postgraduate Diploma consisting of 120 taught credits shall be eligible for an award “with Merit” provided that all of the following conditions are met:

• There are four marks in the class (i.e. four subject marks being above 60% across all three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Elective Areas) in their taught modules.
• Every assessment in their three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Areas must have been passed without a referral and they must not have been referred in more than one assessment in Stage 1 of the course (other than an assessment in a Core Practice Area).
• An overall average mark of not less than 60% and not more than 69.99% is achieved for the whole programme.

G16

Candidates exiting with a Postgraduate Certificate/Diploma shall be eligible for the appropriate award “with Distinction” where he/she pursued the requisite number of credits and has attained an overall mark of 70% for the award in question.

In addition, candidates exiting with a Postgraduate Diploma consisting of 120 taught credits must have passed every assessment in their taught modules without an in-course re-assessment or referral and have four marks in the class (i.e. four subject marks being above 60% across all three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Elective Areas).

G17

Candidates who fail to submit their piece/pieces of directed independent learning by the deadline will fail the LLM, but may be eligible for an exit award. No resubmission will be given. Candidates who have not yet exhausted all of their attempts at the taught modules may be permitted to continue with their studies in order to be considered for an exit award.

Where there are one or more assessment components in respect of the directed independent learning module, students who have submitted at least one assessment component by the deadline and fail to obtain an overall module pass mark, will normally be permitted to resubmit all failed components in accordance with the appropriate time limit. 

G18

Candidates who submit their piece/pieces of directed independent learning by the deadline and who fail to obtain a pass mark may be permitted to resubmit on one further occasion in accordance with the appropriate time-limit. Resubmission will be capped at 50%

G19

Candidates who are unable to meet their submission deadline may apply for an extension to their submission deadline in accordance with the University’s regulations.

G20

Candidates who fail the directed independent leaning module at resubmission will fail the programme, but may be considered for an appropriate exit award.

G21

The University reserves the right to charge a re-examination fee in respect of the re-submission.

S1

Candidates who pass all specified module components/modules shall be allowed to continue with their studies.    

S2

Candidates who fail a taught module may be awarded a re-sit or supplementary assessment in accordance with the Assessment Regulations for the Legal Practice Course. 

S3

The marks of candidates who have redeemed any failed component(s) shall be capped at 50%.

Specific Rules to be Applied for Part-time Candidates at the End Of Year Re-Sit Board Part-Way Through their Studies

S4

Candidates who pass all specified module components/modules shall be allowed to continue with their studies.    

S5

Candidates who fail any module at the second attempt will be may be awarded a re-sit or supplementary assessment in accordance with the Accuracy of Published Marks Procedure.  

Specific Rules to be Applied for Full-time Candidates at the Semester Two Board/Award Board

S6

The Pass mark shall be 50%.

S7

Candidates who accumulate 180 credits may qualify for the award of a degree. The overall degree classification shall be calculated based on the sum of the credit weighting of each module pursued.

S8

Candidates, shall be eligible for the award of a Master’s degree with merit provided that they meet all of the following conditions:

• There are four marks in the class (i.e. four subject marks being above 60% across all three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Elective Areas) in their taught modules.
• Every assessment in their three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Areas must have been passed without a referral and they must not have been referred in more than one assessment in Stage 1 of the course (other than an assessment in a Core Practice Area).
• An overall average mark of not less than 60% and not more than 69.99% is achieved for the whole programme.

S9 

Candidates, who have passed every assessment in their taught modules without an in-course re-assessment or referral and who have four marks in the class (i.e. four subject marks being above 70% across all three Core Practice Areas and all three Vocational Elective Areas) shall be eligible for the award of a Master’s degree with distinction provided that they achieve an overall average mark of not less than 70% for the whole programme.

S10

Candidates who do not meet the requirements of S2 will fail to qualify for the award. At the discretion of the Examination Board, the candidate will normally be required to sit supplementary examinations or assessments in all failed first and second attempts at a taught module for a capped mark of 50%.

S11

The marks of candidates who have redeemed any failed component(s) shall be capped at 50%.

S12

Candidates who fail any taught module at the third attempt may be permitted to continue with their directed independent learning in order to be considered for an exit award or if they failed to submit their directed independent learning by the submission deadline will be considered for an exit award (see S8 below).

S13

Candidates who fail to submit their directed independent learning or approved equivalent by the deadline will fail the LLM, but may be eligible for an exit award. No resubmission will be permitted. Candidates who have not yet exhausted all of their attempts at the taught modules may be permitted to continue with their studies in order to be considered for an exit award.

Where there are one or more assessment components in respect of the directed independent learning module, students who have submitted at least one assessment component by the deadline and fail to obtain an overall module pass mark, will normally be permitted to resubmit all failed components in accordance with the appropriate time limit. 

S14

Candidates who fail the directed independent learning or approved equivalent and who are permitted to resubmit will be subject to the following periods of time in which to resubmit. Resubmission will be capped at 50%.

S15

It is recognised that some candidates may fail both the directed independent learning and the taught modules at the first attempt. Such candidates will be offered one resubmission opportunity for the directed independent learning (in accordance with the regulations above) and up to three opportunities to re-sit failed taught modules in accordance with the LPC Assessment Regulations.  

S16

Candidates who fail the directed independent module at the second attempt will normally be required to withdraw from the University. However, candidates who have not yet exhausted all of their attempts at the taught modules may be permitted to continue with their studies in order to be considered for an exit award.

S17

Candidates who fail to qualify for an award may be considered for an appropriate exit award, subject to Professional Body requirements.

S18

All candidates have the right to query the accuracy of their marks in accordance with the University’s Accuracy of Published Marks Procedure or to appeal the decision of an Examination Board in accordance with the University’s Appeal Procedures.