Legal Futures
A range of vocational, practice-focused courses designed to enhance professional skills in legal practice.
Develop your professional skills
Our courses are tailored for junior and early-career professionals working in legal services who want to strengthen their knowledge and advance their careers.
They also support employers seeking structured development pathways for staff considering future legal qualifications.
Courses are suitable for professionals working across the public and private sectors in England and Wales.
We also provide bespoke in-house training, delivered on campus or at your preferred location by agreement. These programmes can be customised to align with your organisation’s mission, vision, and values.
Who can benefit from these courses?
Our courses are designed to ensure that you can work independently and hit the ground running in your chosen field.
The practical exercises and workshops we run ensure that you know exactly what to do to kick-start your career.
You will stay supported, focused and motivated in an environment where you can interact and collaborate with industry practitioners and other students, engage in discussions, and stay up to date with all the latest industry knowledge, which is not possible through an online course.
If you are visiting Chichester from overseas, it’s a great opportunity to expand your learning while exploring the surrounding area.
Getting the most out of your course
Participants will engage in collaborative discussions with industry professionals, gain up-to-date insights and knowledge of theory, and develop practical skills in a supportive environment.
Matthew
County Council Legal Assistant
The University of Chichester prepared me to sit the Solicitor Qualifying Exam (SQE) via the SQE Preparation Course. The course is taught by a knowledgeable, approachable, and supportive non-practising solicitor whose breadth of knowledge and understanding is beyond what you can obtain from reading textbooks.
The course covers content not found on undergraduate law degrees, such as criminal law practice, SRA Codes of Conduct and Ethics, and techniques on how to sit the exam and understand the questions.
Beyond the classroom, there are many resources available, including SQE Prep and Practice Books and mock tests. The teaching team went above and beyond, and were extremely helpful. I am glad to have chosen the University of Chichester.
Our Courses
Advance your legal career with our vocational focused courses
The core themes for this short course include:
- The lawyer/client relationship and client care
- Business awareness and the legal services landscape
- Legal context and specialism
- Ethical and professional working practices
- Digital Technology, Data, and Information
Duration: 2 days total across 2 weekends
Next dates:
27 June 2026 and 4 July 2026 between 9am and 4pm
January 2027 – dates TBC
June/July 2027 – dates TBC
Venue: University of Chichester campus or company premises
Cost: £750 for the whole course*
Discounts are available for bookings of groups of five or more attendees (£600 per registered participant for the whole course). To qualify for a group booking discount, a single booking must be made for at least five individuals to attend the whole course.
*Individual teaching days may be booked at a cost £600 per day but the University will not be able to issue a certificate of completion for these bookings.
Who is this course for?
This practical course is for anyone working at a junior/early career level within a legal services or legal practice environment.
The course would be helpful for employers wanting to offer a support pathway for employees who are not currently undertaking (but are contemplating) the level 5 advanced paralegal programme or other legal professional qualification.
About this course
This course will be delivered over 2 days across 2 weekends:
Day 1 (6 contact hours + 1 hour break)
Day 1 will examine legal professionalism and the nature of the lawyer/client relationship. It will address the core components of effective client care, exploring the lifecycle of a client instruction from start to finish, through to repeat instruction and referral. It will also examine the broader legal services landscape and consider the concept of law as business. It will aim at enhancing commercial awareness and client relationships, providing an opportunity for reflection for the development of future legal practice and specialism.
Day 2 (6 contact hours + 1 hour break)
Day 2 will examine the legal and professional regulatory frameworks and a range of real-world practice-based ethical dilemmas. It will also examine the importance of digital data/ information and the corresponding legal frameworks. Finally, the day will support participants to build and complete a portfolio of work, evidencing their professional growth and identifying key areas for future practice development.
Each participant is expected to submit a portfolio of work (equivalent to three thousand words) at the end of the course. Satisfactory completion and submission of the portfolio is necessary before the University can issue a Certificate of Completion*. Certificate of Completion (requires completion/submission of a satisfactory portfolio of work at the end of the course)
*Satisfactory completion of the portfolio will be assessed at the sole discretion of the University of Chichester.
For further information on this course, contact J.Wale@chi.ac.uk.
This three-month course supports you as you prepare for the first of the Solicitor’s Qualifying Examinations, which you can sit after completing your degree.
This will include:
- How to make a bail application
- The role of a duty solicitor in a police station
- How to bring a claim in the civil courts
- The methods of resolving a dispute without resorting to court.
- Practice questions and mock tests
Entry Requirements
A 2:2 undergraduate honours degree or above in Law.
If you have a non-UK degree and intend to qualify as a barrister, you should also have a certificate of academic standing from the Bar Standards Board.
If English is not your first language, then the English language proficiency required is IELTS 6.5 (with no element less than 5.5) or equivalent qualification.
Course Costs
UK fee – £2,500
If you want to sit the SQE exam, then this can be booked and paid for at a Pearson’s assessment centre externally. There is a cost for UK students – find out more on the Solicitors Regulation Authority website.
(If you have a non-UK degree and intend to qualify as a barrister, you should also have a certificate of academic standing from the Bar Standards Board.)
For more information, please visit: https://www.chi.ac.uk/law/course/sqe-top-up/
Tailored courses
Our Law team boasts extensive expertise, and we can design customised CPD courses tailored specifically to your needs.
For more information, please email J.Wale@chi.ac.uk.
Consultancy
We provide tailored consultancy services from our team of law academics and legal practitioners.
For more information, please email J.Wale@chi.ac.uk.
Meet our team of experts
Terms and Conditions
Terms and Conditions
1.1 Courses are open to anyone aged eighteen (18) and over
1.2 You will receive an email with joining instructions 3 weeks before the start date.
Our Rights and Obligations
2.1 We will make every effort to run courses as advertised. However, we reserve the right to make changes to any course in order to ensure that they are up to date and in accordance with current best practice.
2.2 We reserve the right to cancel or suspend any course. If this is the case, you will be informed by email and given a full refund.
Your Rights and Obligations
3.1 Please bring your joining instructions with you at the start of the course.
3.2 You must notify us of any changes in your registration details including your name, address, telephone number and/ or email address
3.3 You agree to act with courtesy, consideration and integrity towards the University staff and other students. We reserve the right to terminate the contract with you and remove you from the course in circumstances where your conduct is deemed to be unfit, unsuitable or damaging to the University of Chichester or its reputation. If you are removed from the course in accordance with this clause, we will not refund any sums paid by you towards the course.
3.4 We will endeavour to cater for special diets due to medical reasons. You must provide details on your booking form if you have any dietary requirements or require any special assistance.
3.5 Recordings (audio or video) are not permitted during training sessions – however copies of presentations and additional resources will be provided electronically following your course (shared via drop box.)
3.6 We take the health and safety of our course participants seriously and delegates must follow any health and safety procedures as advised by the University of Chichester, their facilitators, transport officials or venues visited. Failure to do so, may result in the delegate’s removal from the course.
Provision of a University of Chichester Certificate requires 100% attendance. Participants who are unable to achieve the required attendance (i.e. due to illness or emergency) will be provided with a Statement of Participation for subject areas they were able to attend.
Payment and Changes
4.1 You must pay the course fee at the time of booking. After you have paid in full you will be emailed a confirmation.
Invoices
4.2 If you wish to request an invoice to make payment for your course, please email us. For invoice payments- please note that bookings are not confirmed until payment has been received.
Payments can also be made by bank transfer. Please contact us for bank details
Changes to the Course
5.1 The University of Chichester reserves the right to make material changes to the tutor, venue, time, date or content of the course up to fourteen (14) days before the advertised start date of the course. If you have already booked onto the course, you will be notified in writing of such changes.
5.2 Changes to the course are normally made for one or more of the following reasons:
* To ensure course content is current, reflects best practice and incorporates new developments
* To improve and enhance your experience or incorporate changes based upon feedback.
Cancellation of the Course by the University of Chichester
6.1 The University of Chichester reserves the right to discontinue or suspend a course up to fourteen (14) calendar days before the advertised course date if:
6.2 An insufficient number of bookings are received for the course which means the student experience cannot be guaranteed
6.3 For any reason the University of Chichester does not or will not have the appropriate teaching and learning resources to deliver the course
If you have booked onto a course which is cancelled by the university, we shall notify you in writing of any cancellation and you may request either:
* A course transfer
* A full refund
Course Transfer
7.1 You may transfer your booking to an alternative published course, providing there is a place available on that course. Your request to transfer must be received at least six (6) weeks prior to the course start date of the original course unless a shorter period applies.
7.2 An administration charge of £25.00 will apply for transfers however if the University of Chichester cancels a course and you wish to transfer, all transfers under such circumstances will be free.
7.3 If you wish to cancel your booking, please inform us by email as soon as possible. You may cancel your booking at any time but a full refund will only be payable if you cancel more than 30 days before the course starts.
Refund Policy
8.1 Refunds shall be made in full only if you cancel more than 30 days before the start of the course. Refunds will be made using the same method of payment you used for the initial transaction.
8.2 Refunds will not be issued due to failure to attend all or any part of the course for any reason including (without limitation) ill health within the 30 days cancellation deadline.
8.3 You will not be entitled to a refund of any course fees if we terminate this contract due to your breach of any of our terms and conditions
8.4 International delegates are responsible for their own visa arrangements. We are sorry but we cannot provide advice on visa requirements as each person and country situation varies. Please visit gov.uk for guidance. Let us know if you require any letters to facilitate your visa application. We cannot refund course fees because your visa was denied unless this request is made more than 30 days before the course starts.
8.5 For clarity, we do not refund other costs incurred by the student including accommodation or travel expenses. If you are travelling to the UK for your course, we recommend considering appropriate travel insurance and checking carefully the cancellation terms of your accommodation and transport carriers.
8.5 We reserve the right to change the course content, host venue, site visits, catering and facilitators in exigent circumstances. Replacement arrangements will be made to similar standards.
8.6 After booking and paying online, a confirmation letter/email will be emailed to you, along with your course joining instructions.