How long does the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts take to complete?

The Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts runs 12 to 15 months at UK Level 5. Working practitioners typically complete the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts within fifteen months studying part-time.

How is the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts delivered?

The Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts is available on-campus in central London, online and by distance learning, with the same weekly seminar structure across modes.

Is the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts recognised in the UK?

Yes. The Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts is a UK Level 5 senior-track qualification aligned with standards referenced by the SRA, Bar Standards Board and CILEX, with credit transfer into UK Bachelor's top-ups.

What are the entry requirements for the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts?

You need a Level 4 Diploma or at least two years of relevant experience, GCSE English and Maths at grade 4/C, and IELTS 6.0 to enrol on the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts.

What funding options are available for the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts?

LSLPE offers instalment plans and scholarship pathways for the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts, and international applicants receive dedicated visa and accommodation guidance.

Adv Diploma in Equity and Trusts | LSLPE | Harold International College of London

Course Overview

The Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts at the London School of Law, Politics and Economics is a UK Level 5 senior-track qualification running 12 to 15 months across on-campus, online and distance learning modes. It carries confirmed credit transfer into UK Bachelor's top-ups and is mapped to competencies referenced by the SRA, the Bar Standards Board, CILEX and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners aligned syllabus.

By graduation you will have drafted trust instruments, argued equitable-tracing claims, prepared advice on fiduciary duties, and produced a case portfolio on a live private-client or contentious-trust question.

Every intake of the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts joins the same LSLPE weekly rhythm, whether on-campus, online or by distance learning, and students are placed in small named cohorts from week one. Reading is drawn wherever possible from primary UK sources including Supreme Court judgments, Law Commission working papers and Sentencing Council guidance, giving senior-track students a direct working relationship with the evidence base used by the SRA, Bar Standards Board and CILEX. Assessed work rewards clean writing and structured argument over volume, and tutors emphasise the everyday drafting skills that senior-track practitioners use in first practice.

Key Features

Syllabus mapped to competencies referenced by the SRA, Bar Standards Board and CILEX.
Case-room seminars on express, resulting and constructive trusts.
Workshops on trust drafting, breach of trust and equitable remedies.
Guest sessions from private-client practitioners and Chancery barristers.
Confirmed credit transfer into UK Bachelor's top-ups.
Capstone case portfolio defended before an LSLPE tutor panel.
Named tutor written feedback on every graded submission with an interim tutor review at the halfway mark.
Structured induction reading list drawn from primary UK legal sources including Supreme Court judgments, Law Commission working papers and Sentencing Council guidance.

What You Will Learn

Draft express trust instruments and letters of wishes.
Analyse the three certainties, beneficiary principle and formalities.
Advise on trustee powers, duties and investment obligations.
Argue breach-of-trust claims and equitable defences.
Apply constructive-trust and proprietary-estoppel reasoning.
Advise on family-home disputes using Stack v Dowden and Jones v Kernott.
Prepare submissions on equitable tracing and third-party liability.
Produce a portfolio-standard trust-and-equity case study.
Read published UK legal evidence sessions, working papers and reports at practitioner standard.
Manage timed writing and oral defence under seminar and committee-style conditions.

Who This Course Is For

Paralegals and legal executives in private client, probate or Chancery firms.
Trust administrators and STEP candidates seeking a legal-side credential.
Career changers from wealth advisory or financial planning roles.
International applicants targeting UK trust and estate practice.
Working professionals preparing for progression into a Bachelor's top-up.
Applicants moving into the Advanced Diploma route from a UK Access to HE Diploma, a mature-applicant portfolio or a related LSLPE credential.

Career Pathways

Senior Paralegal in a Chancery or private-client firm.
Legal Executive on a CILEX route with a trust specialism.
In-house Counsel to a trust company or wealth manager.
Contract Lawyer specialising in family and succession arrangements.
Legal Adviser to a charitable foundation.
Compliance Officer in a regulated trust or estate business.
Legal Researcher in a Chancery chambers set.
Support-role progression across chambers, City firms and Whitehall departments and legal-policy adjacent teams in central London.

The LSLPE careers service links Advanced Diploma students with placements at Chancery chambers, private-client firms and trust companies. The service runs at least one careers day each academic year specifically for Advanced Diploma students on the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts, connecting them with employers across the Royal Courts of Justice, the Inns of Court, chambers, City firms and Whitehall departments and the wider LSLPE alumni network.

Entry Requirements

A relevant Diploma (Level 4), Foundation Year, or at least two years of relevant professional experience in law or private wealth.
GCSE English at grade 4/C and Mathematics at grade 4/C or equivalent.
IELTS 6.0 overall (no band below 5.5) for non-native English speakers.
One academic or professional reference.
Applicants with trust, probate or Chancery portfolios are encouraged to include them.

Why Study at LSLPE

The London School of Law, Politics and Economics teaches equity and trusts within a short tube ride of Lincoln's Inn, the Rolls Building, the Chancery Division and the City private-client community. Advanced Diploma students engage directly with the practitioners arguing the same trust and equity cases they read in seminar.

Every intake, on-campus or remote, joins the same weekly seminar structure with named programme-tutor support, and curriculum alignment is refreshed annually against Bar Standards Board and Law Society guidance.

Study skills teaching is embedded across the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts, covering scholarly referencing, timed writing under committee-style time pressure and the reading of published UK legal materials. International applicants receive additional English-language coaching from the LSLPE admissions team, and mature applicants without recent formal study join a bridge-week before term begins to consolidate written English and note-taking habits. Tutors provide named written feedback on every submission, and every graded piece is reviewed by a second tutor for consistency across cohorts and study modes. Students shadow LSLPE tutors on structured observation sessions at the Supreme Court, the Administrative Court and the Central Criminal Court where relevant, and are encouraged to follow live UK debate through the UK legal-affairs press and the UK Human Rights Blog community.

Apply for Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts

Applications for the Advanced Diploma in Equity and Trusts are reviewed on a rolling basis and admissions responds within one working day. Enrol on a UK Level 5 Advanced Diploma at LSLPE, credit transfer into Bachelor top-ups confirmed in writing at enrolment. International applicants receive dedicated visa and accommodation guidance from the LSLPE admissions team throughout the enrolment cycle, and progression maps into an LSLPE Bachelor’s top-up are set out in writing at offer stage. Enrol Now.