Diploma of Legal Medicine (DLM)
The DLM examination is a stand-alone exam.
The next exam is on Friday 09 October 2020. That exam and subsequent written ones will be online.
Please contact our Exams Manager, Mr Jay C Barton-Costa, at jay.barton-costa@fflm.ac.uk, for further information.
For fee and diary information please click here. The next application period will be from Friday 04 June to Friday 02 July 2021.
The FFLM’s Diploma of Legal Medicine leads to the postnominal DLM. It is a knowledge test identical to Part 1 of the FFLM Membership examination, but marked at a slightly lower level. The MFFLM is equivalent in standard to MRCP.
Successful MFFLM Part 1 candidates have been awarded DLM since the first DLM examination, on 27 June 2014. However, the DLM will not be awarded retrospectively to individuals who passed the MFFLM Part 1 examination before that date.
The postnominal is DLM. There are no other authorised variations such as “Dip Leg Med” or “DLM (London)” or “DLM(RCP)”, for example.
While entry to the MFFLM examinations is restricted to doctors working in a relevant field, the DLM is open to all. This examination is set and marked primarily by doctors and those with dual qualifications, and not by lawyers alone. Therefore please note that the emphasis is on legal medicine rather than medical law.
The DLM is not a qualification which will entitle the holder to undertake any specific kind of work, any more than a Master of Laws (LLM) in medical law and ethics will do. Furthermore, holding the DLM will not in itself entitle the holder to apply for affiliate membership of the FFLM. However, a registered medical practitioner who obtains a Distinction (i.e. who reaches the MFFLM Part 1 pass mark) will be offered exemption from part 1 of the Membership of the Faculty of Forensic & Legal Medicine (MFFLM) examination for a period of four years.
This qualification will appeal to those with an interest in the wider interaction of clinical practice and the law, the regulation of clinical professionals, and those who may be called upon to act as an expert witness in legal proceedings.
Please see further information on the right-hand side of this page, under More Information. It is essential that candidates read the Regulations – both the general and the DLM-specific ones – before applying for the exam.
Kindly note the reading list is to assist in developing knowledge about relevant topics and is not the syllabus for the examination. The syllabus can be found in the Regulations document.
E-Learning
The FFLM has developed online learning resources to help professionals further their training in forensic and legal medicine as well as to help prepare candidates for FFLM examinations. Click here to find out more.
For more useful publications and materials please visit our Resources page.
