CC’s fast-track LPC adds to two-tier fears
Clifford Chance has become the latest firm to launch a fast-track LPC in a move that has heightened student fears of creating a two-tier training system for aspiring lawyers.
The seven-month course, to be introduced in January 2012, will be provided by the College of Law (CoL), which already plans to roll out a similar offering for Linklaters from next year.
The trend towards only offering condensed courses to a select few students with City training contracts has outraged undergraduates.
University of Kent Law Society president Zainul Jussab said: “Just because you join a certain type of firm, why should you finish the LPC more quickly than everyone else?”
CoL’s arch-rival BPP Law School was the first provider to launch an accelerated course for the so-called ’City consortium’ of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May. BPP’s fast-track LPC welcomed its third cohort of students last month.
University College
London (UCL) careers secretary Shiva Riahi said: “In the perfect world we should all have the choice to study the LPC for seven months.”
Readers' comments (15)
Threadneedles | 20-Sep-2010 12:08 pm
So this now leaves A&O as the only magic circle firm that doesn't offer the accelerated LPC.
I wonder why and for how much longer they can resist the trend?
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Anonymous | 20-Sep-2010 1:03 pm
Why would anyone actually pay for the LPC in this day and age?
Without sponsorship one will not get a training contract.
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Anonymous | 20-Sep-2010 2:29 pm
I asked A&O about their view on accelerated LPCs, the response was that 'it's only four months difference'.
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Mark Smith | 20-Sep-2010 4:40 pm
Certainly when I did the LPC (back in '95) there was scope for it to be condensed. The question is, if it is being condensed, what is the extra time being used for? Is it to give young lawyers additional training in other areas, or to give them more hands on experience, or is it simply to get them generating fees more quickly?
I think there is huge scope to revisit the legal training framework and use the time more effectively to create better lawyers, but to do so is going to require the support of the major firms.
If interested, I wrote about this here: http://intelligentchallenge.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/your-training-was-useless-%C2%A0discuss/
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Anonymous | 20-Sep-2010 11:41 pm
I'm in my 3rd seat at a magic circle firm.
Take my advice and take the 12 months option. Arguably the best time of your life is the period where you have a job secured and a 7k grant yet at the same time you're still a student!
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LPC student at the College of Law | 21-Sep-2010 0:42 am
But why on earth would you want to squash the LPC like that?! Finish it in normal time like everyone else instead of completely killing yourself to get it done that little bit quicker... so that you can start killing yourself even more in your lovely new Magic Circle training contract... how very jealous all the one year LPC takers must feel!!
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Clare | 21-Sep-2010 10:12 am
“University of Kent Law Society president Zainul Jussab said: “Just because you join a certain type of firm, why should you finish the LPC more quickly than everyone else?””
University of kent lawsoc president needs to man up (and go to a better uni...)!
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Coolio | 21-Sep-2010 10:46 am
WHAT IS WRONG WITH KENT UNI???
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Anonymous | 21-Sep-2010 2:09 pm
It surely isn't a matter of killing oneself to complete the LPC in 7 months, nor necessarily having to start work earlier.
When I did the LPC, frankly there wasn't 6 months worth of work in the syllabus, so 7 months still leaves plenty of time to be a student. And even when I did it, we started in Sept/Oct and were finished by May or so; hardly a drastic reduction in total time devoted now.
As for starting work, most firms (certainly the MC ones) offer a range of dates to start. So, if anything, the 7 month LPC offers an opportunity either to start work quicker (which would have suited me given I'd done my travelling and frankly wanted to start earning some money) or to have more, rather than less, time off before doing so.
On any view, spending 8 or 9 months to cover what needs to take far less time, is a waste of time, which could be better spent - it's up to you whether you spend it at work or on a beach.
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HP | 21-Sep-2010 5:22 pm
"What is wrong with Kent Uni?'
To answer your question, its a bit of a gangsters paradise....
Good luck with the TC though... Ill see you when you get there...
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Anonymous | 21-Sep-2010 7:54 pm
I think its great to have an accelerated LPC for Magic Circle firms however I did the LPC part-time over 2 years whilst working full time at a City firm. And it worked for me great.
Its up to an individual how they decide to study the LPC.
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lolol | 22-Sep-2010 10:46 am
lolol at@ gangsters paradise!!
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JP | 22-Sep-2010 12:21 pm
Some of us gotta run a little faster, Coz we got a later start, but I'd be a fool to surrender When I know I can be a contender.
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hamesh | 23-Sep-2010 12:08 pm
"Why would anyone actually pay for the LPC in this day and age?
Without sponsorship one will not get a training contract."
@Anonymous who wrote this, you are easily the biggest moron on this website right now.
Even using "one" in order to display your superior grasp of the english language cannot hide the fact that you obviously spend your days justifying your pointless existence by posting your inane tripe on websites.
Please do us all a favour and just take your laptop, and throw it out of the window, maybe dont let go of it first.
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KE | 23-Sep-2010 6:06 pm
! The LPC is a professional qualification. Of course it should be designed for the convenience of the firm rather than the student! The LPC could quite easily be taught full time in 6 months - it just means working 9 to 5 in the classroom, and doing homework each evening, as they do in comparable professions. (Of course, in comparable professions you would be more likely to have a three year training contract in which you go off for a few months each year to complete the qualifications. Which if applied to law would in turn mean that law firms could recruit a year in advance instead of two years, because they would not need to worry about their trainees completing the LPC first.)
I have no sympathy whatsoever for Zainul Jussab's position. There is no question of "fairness" here; I would have thought that an undergraduate who was genuinely committed to a legal career would welcome the opportunity to get the LPC over and done with as quickly as possible. Sounds like a typical university society president trying to justify the position.
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