The course fee for the GDL at both Nottingham and Kaplan Law Schools is the same for both overseas and UK students. Applicants holding degrees/qualifications from non-UK universities will need to contact the Law Society (www.lawsociety.org.uk) or General Council of the Bar (www.barcouncil.org.uk) for a Certificate of Academic Standing at the application stage. (However, Nottingham and Kaplan Law Schools do not need to see this certificate until enrolment.)

If you have a non-UK degree, we are looking for as much evidence as possible of a strong academic record. To assist us you need to specify on your application form whether your first degree (and any other degree/award) is equivalent to a first or good second class award and whether that placed you in the top 10%, 20%, 30% etc of the year. It would also help if you could "translate" your A Levels or equivalent into As, Bs, Cs etc. in case we need to refer to these. Evidence of academic ability in your reference is also important.

Note that no concession is made on our GDL course if English is not your first language, and fluency in written and spoken English is a requirement for entry onto it. All applicants are required to confirm this when an offer is accepted. However, we do not require specific test grades (eg ILETS/TOEFL).

Overseas students should also note that applicants to law firms abroad may be required to "top up" their GDL qualification with further study and exams when seeking to return home to work. Extra study seems to be required particularly in subjects such as Business Law and Evidence, but in some cases study of subjects on the GDL does not grant exemptions and has to be repeated. This is because most countries outside the UK do not recognise a one year conversion course as being equivalent to an undergraduate law course. This prejudice does not seem to apply where applicants are working in an overseas branch of a UK law firm - UK law firms generally seem to prefer GDL students.