Professional Practice Course (PPC) Hybrid

The PPC Hybrid course will commence with an online introductory session in December 2023.

Trainee solicitor action items

  • Academic Calendar

  • Semester 01-02: Core Curriculum Timetable - updated 21 Dec 2023 (please note the timetable is subject to change).

  • Advanced Elective Timetable - available to download Mid February 2025.

  • Core and Skills Group Information - available to download 9 January 2024

  • iPad Selection - all trainees are required to select an iPad by 1pm on Friday 1 December 2023. For queries regarding trainee iPads, contact iPad@lawsociety.ie.

  • Upload photo for ID card - to gain access to the entire Law Society campus, you must have a valid Law Society student card. All PPC trainees are required to upload a digital photo by 12 December 2023. Click on ‘Edit Personal information’ and then ‘Upload a photo’ to upload an image of less than 4mb.

  • Accessing your Digital Student ID Card.

Key dates

Please see the academic calendar for break down of onsite and online weekends PPC Hybrid in 2024. A full timetable will be uploaded in the coming weeks. There will be an online introductory session taking place on Wednesday 13 December 2023 at 1pm.  All students will be forwarded a link for this session in advance of the date.

  • Block 01 - Core: December 2023 - April 2024 

  • Block 02 - Core: May 2024 - Dec 2024 

  • Block 03 - Advanced Electives: June 2025 - July 2025 

Similar to its full-time equivalent, the PPC Hybrid is a fundamentally reworked course with a new syllabus, structure and suite of advanced electives (see below).

Core Curriculum

The core curriculum will run from December 2023 until December 2024 (inclusive of examinations) and will include a continued focus on such skills as negotiations, research, drafting, advocacy, interviewing and advising and presentation skills, together with an enhanced focus on more general skills such as leadership, project management, office and legal technology, and finance skills.

Professional responsibility, including enhanced coverage of legal ethics, solicitors’ accounts and rules of professional conduct and law firm life, will also form an integral part of the core curriculum. These are in addition to courses, such as business law, dispute resolution, land law, probate, family law and taxation. The Complete Lawyer and Legal Practice Irish will continue to be part of the core curriculum.

Structure of the PPC Hybrid

The PPC Hybrid maintains an optimised blended learning experience for the entire core curriculum, combining online recorded lectures, ‘live’ online tutorials and skills workshops together with onsite face-to-face tuition. That structure includes:

  • incremental release of recorded online lectures in play on demand mode; 

  • on-site face-to-face tuition through weekend sessions focusing on skills and small group work for the core written subject; and

  • ‘live’ online tutorials and skills workshops to supplement the onsite small group work.

Advantages of the PPC Hybrid

The PPC Hybrid continues to provide an exceptionally flexible learning experience by combining campus and online study. Advantages of the PPC Hybrid include:

  • a potential route into practice that may be more suitable for your lifestyle,

  • the option to continue working while taking engaging  classes, and

  • the ability to continue to avail of the full range of academic, networking, and professional development resources of the Society’s Law School.

PPC Hybrid Academic Calendar for the Core Curriculum (January 2024 – December 2024)

  • Recorded online lectures: Lecture content will be provided in a predominantly online play on demand format. Recorded lecture content will be released throughout the week, with lecture content relevant to tutorials/workshops occurring in that month released in advance.

  • Onsite weekends: There will be approximately 12 onsite face-to-face tuition weekends in Blackhall over the duration of the core curriculum. Onsite weekends will take place on Fridays and Saturdays. 

  • Online ‘live’ sessions: Onsite weekends will be supplemented by approximately nine ‘live’ online sessions. Such online weekends will focus on tutorials for the core written subjects, together with the occasional skills workshop and the occasional ‘live’ online lecture.  Online weekends will take place on Fridays and Saturdays.

  • Catch-up sessions: Optional catch up sessions for core subjects will take place through- out the term at lunchtimes.

  • Examinations: One onsite written examination for the Core Curriculum will take place on Friday 26 April 2024 (Conduct & Ethics in Legal Practice) Examinations will also take place in December 2024 (Business Law, Applied Land Law, Dispute Resolution andProbate). The December exams will take place on Monday 2 December, Wednesday 4 December, Friday 6 December and Monday 9 December 2024. All students must be in a position to attend at designated exam centre in Dublin to complete exams.  There is no online option for examinations.

  • An Advocacy practical examination will take place in November onsite in the Law Society.

  • Family Law will be assessed by way of assignment which will be released in May 2024.

In-office training

The two years (24 months) of in-office training continues as a vital and essential vocational component of the overall training to become a solicitor. As with all applicants, PPC Hybrid applicants must have secured a training contract with a training solicitor. The in-office training period commences 14 days after the last exam on the core curriculum. Trainee solicitors will continue to be entitled to potentially benefit from four months’ credit for in-office training occurring prior to commencing the PPC Hybrid.

PPC Hybrid trainees also have an advantage of being able to potentially engage in employment during the PPC Hybrid. If that employment is with the training solicitor or any other practising solicitor then trainees may accrue partial credit of up to five-months for in-office training occurring during the PPC Hybrid. (This is in addition to any credit that might apply for in-office training occurring immediately prior to starting PPC Hybrid– see above).

Trainee working hours

If a trainee is working in their training firm whilst on the PPC Hybrid Course and if Friday is part of their normal working hours there may be a requirement to pay the trainee for those hours on a Friday spent training.

Please refer to section 8 of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000. If a Friday is part of the trainee’s usual working hours and they are paid close to the minimum wage, they should be paid for the hours on the Friday spent training. This is in order to ensure that when those training hours are included as part of the trainee’s working hours for a reference period (up to a maximum of one month) that the trainee is paid at least the minimum wage for that reference period i.e. total pay for the reference period divided by (hours worked in the office + hour spent training during normal working hours) must be equal to or greater than the national minimum wage of €12.70 per hour.

Advanced Electives

A programme of advanced electives will be provided

  1. by the Law Society,
  2. some will be co-provided and
  3. external advanced electives will also be accredited.

The timeline for the Society’s advanced electives will be from May 2025 to June 2025. Trainees are required to complete four advanced electives, but may elect to complete more than this minimum requirement. Hybrid trainees will be provided with the opportunity to complete the advanced elective component of their training with trainees from the full-time offering.  Trainees taking advanced electives with the Law Society will link in with the full time PPC.  Depending on the number of advanced electives that a student is taking there may be increased requirements to attend the Law Society during the working week.  This is something that should be discussed and agreed with your employer in advance. 

Fees and Funding

The fee for the core course which runs from December 2023 – December 2024 is €11,350. The fee for advanced electives undertaken with the Law Society is €675 for each course. However, trainees choosing to take multiple advanced electives with the Society will benefit from discounts.

Payment for the advanced electives will be due on 19 April 2024, and the payment portal opens soon. Trainees and firm administrators will be notified when the payment portal is available. 

Guidance for training solicitors

  • During the delivery of the core curriculum, we recommend that the trainee work only four days a week. Not every weekend is a Hybrid weekend, but providing the trainee with one day a week off every week will greatly assist their learning process.

  • Ensure time-off for trainees prior to the PPC Hybrid examinations.

  • Be aware that the PPC Hybrid is an intensive course with trainees having to engage in learning materials in the evenings and at the weekends. As such, during the delivery of the course try and allocate the work load accordingly such that the trainees are generally able to leave the office without having to unduly work evenings or at weekends.

  • If the trainee takes all advanced electives with the Law Society in May and June 2025, then the expectation is that the trainee will have increased obligations to attend the Law Society during the working week.

Contact us

The Law Society is fully committed to providing excellent professional training to our future solicitors. We acknowledge that the PPC Hybrid is a major undertaking for students and we are happy to deal with any queries or concerns you may have. If you have any questions about the programme please contact Cian Monahan.

We look forward to welcoming trainee solicitors to the PPC Hybrid.

PPC Hybrid 2024 Application pack

Download documents to complete your 2024 PPC Hybrid application below.

Please note that we require applications to be submitted via email and by post. Scanned applications that are submitted by email will be prioritised. Please email your scanned application to traineesection@lawsociety.ie, then submit the originals to the Traineeship Section, Law School, Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7, DX 79.