Baker & McKenzie signs trainees up to College of Law's new bespoke LPC

Baker & McKenzie has become the latest firm to sign up to the College of Law's bespoke LPC.

Known as the 'Baker & McKenzie LPC+', the course will be delivered to trainees, starting with the September 2007 intake. As first reported on www.thelawyer.com (3 March), the college has also teamed up with Berwin Leighton Paisner to deliver the bespoke course to its trainees.

The move means all future Bakers trainees will now have to study the LPC at the College of Law. Bakers hires around 30 trainees a year.

In 2004, magic circle firms Allen & Overy (A&O), Clifford Chance and Linklaters split from the City LPC consortium to sign with bespoke courses with the College of Law. The other magic circle firms, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May, signed up exclusively to BPP Law School's City LPC.

The LPC+ is a hybrid of the bespoke courses designed by A&O, Clifford Chance and Linklaters.

College of Law chief executive Nigel Savage said: "Our strategy is particularly suited to the needs of global firms such as Baker & McKenzie, because it facilitates the culture of on-line learning."

The college is planning to scrap lectures in favour of on-line tutorials during the next two years.