Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice

The Oxford Diploma in IP Law and Practice is a postgraduate vocational course for people embarking on a career in IP law and practice.  It is a one-year, part-time course designed to give junior practitioners a grounding in the fundamentals of IP law and practice.  It is taught by senior practitioners and academics, and represents a unique collaboration between the Oxford Law Faculty and the Intellectual Property Lawyers’ Association.

If you wish to attend just the two-week residential programme rather than the full degree, please look under ‘Non Degree Students’ for more information. 

The Diploma is an intellectually rigorous academic and professional development programme in an area of enormous national and international importance.  It will suit anyone seeking to build a career specialising as a lawyer in IP, whether or not they have previously studied IP.

It comprises a two-week residential programme in Oxford, and a series of weekend workshops held from October to June which are usually held at London law firms.  It is taught by a mix of practising and academic lawyers, and covers the full range of IP subjects (including Patents, Trade Marks, 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 Diploma is unique in many respects. But two are particularly important, and these reflect the challenges of contemporary intellectual property law and practice.  First, the course is comprehensive in scope.  Intellectual property law is increasingly complex, putting pressure on practitioners to specialise in narrow fields of the discipline. Yet, problems in practice rarely arise so neatly.  The Oxford Diploma offers coverage of all the substantive IP regimes.  And it treats the material in a variety of important contexts (domestic and international, litigation and transactional).  Second, it is both designed and taught in close collaboration between leading academics and practitioners.  The growing complexity of intellectual property law makes a fundamental appreciation of the underlying legal principles essential to top-level practice.  And the fast-changing commercial and technological environment in which intellectual property operates makes exposure to practice significant for any proper academic understanding of the subject-matter.  The Oxford Diploma facilitates this essential interaction of law and practice through the close involvement of leading members of the legal profession in the design and teaching of the course.  The result is a course in intellectual property law and practice that is second to none.  

The residential programme is held at one of Oxford's colleges.

As students of the Oxford Law Faculty, Diploma candidates will have access to the Law Bodleian Library.  Candidates staying in College during the residential programme will also have access to College facilities.   Weekend workshops will be held in law firms in London.  

The PGDip is not available by distance learning. All students must attend the residential programme and workshops in Oxford and London.

Although there will be no requirement to reside in Oxford or London, students must be able to travel to either location on a monthly basis so they would need to be based within a comfortable travelling distance from both cities.

Applications for 2025-26 entry are now being accepted (application deadline 1 July 2025, 12:00 midday UK time).

For further details on the selection criteria and supporting documents, please refer to the university's Graduate Admissions website. 

It is anticipated that candidates will be trainee or newly qualified solicitors or barristers but other professional qualifications and experience, in particular, admission as a patent or trade mark attorney, will also be considered.

Applications should be made via the University's online application form. There is an application fee of £75 per course application. Further details about how to pay this, and other information about filling in the form can be found in the University's Application Guide. Upon submission of your application, you should receive email confirmation from the University's Online Application System.

Please note that all applications will be assessed after the July deadline and we will communicate decisions as soon as we can after that date.

The Diploma fee for 2024 entry is £11,300 and covers: tuition; course materials; assessment and supervision; lunch and refreshments during the weekend workshops. It does not cover accommodation. However, we can arrange accommodation at the Residential Programme for you.  The cost is expected to be in the region of £1,750 for 12 nights accommodation, including breakfast. With lunch and dinner  Monday to Thursday  and a welcome gala dinner and drinks reception on the first evening. There is also a day rate available for those that do not wish to stay in the  accommodation.

Every year, we offer a limited number of places on the Residential Programme part of the Diploma. 

Applications for attendance at the Residential Programme only, must be made using a separate form.

The 2024 dates are: 1st September - 13th September 2024. 

The fee for attending the residential programme part of the programme in 2024 was £4,999 which included tuition and access to online course materials. Accommodation, meals and refreshments were charged at an additional £1,750 for the 2 week period.