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About the course

The Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip) in Intellectual Property Law and Practice is a vocational course for people embarking on a career in intellectual property (IP) law and practice. It is a one-year, part-time course, taught by senior practitioners and academics, and designed to provide a grounding in the fundamentals of IP law and practice.

The diploma comprises a two-week residential programme held in September at one of Oxford's colleges and a series of weekend workshops held from October to June in London law firms. Teaching is provided by a mix of practising and academic lawyers and covers the full range of IP subjects, including patents, trademarks, unfair competition and passing off, trade secrets, designs, copyright and moral rights as well as key aspects of litigious and non-litigious IP practice and procedure.

The residential programme is taught by means of a series of lectures delivered in close succession which contextualise the various course elements and make conceptual links between them, and also deal with the more theoretical elements of the course. The workshop sessions involve interactive seminars in which students are taught in small groups by experienced IP practitioners, and help them to build on the theoretical grounding gained from the residential programme. Students are responsible for their own academic progress. What this will mean in practical terms will vary significantly from one week to the next given the fact that the great majority of students taking the diploma are doing so while continuing to meet important professional commitments.

Assessment

The diploma is assessed by five written assignments, each of 3,000 words, and two examinations. The assignments are spread throughout the year with each relating to a particular workshop and taking the form of a practical exercise, such as the drafting of statements of case or instructions to counsel. The examinations are held at the end of the year and are each two hours in length.

Graduate destinations

The great majority of students who take the diploma will be trainees or newly qualified solicitors with law firms and barristers' chambers; and as a result, their normal career path after completing the diploma will be to continue work with the firm and the chambers in question, though with an enhanced professional profile and an expanded skill-set which will enable them to progress to senior positions more rapidly.

The University of Oxford has an excellent careers service with which the faculty has close ties; the Careers Service organises a number of events of specific interest to students wishing to pursue a career in law, and offers one-to-one advice from members of staff with knowledge and experience specific to the legal sector.