Dechert signs exclusive LPC deal with BPP

Under the new deal, which commenced this month (September), the US firm’s trainees can study at any of BPP’s centres in London, Leeds or Manchester.

This exclusive arrangement with Dechert brings the total number of law firms that send trainees exclusively to BPP for the LPC to 18 and comes just weeks after BPP’s parent company BPP Holdings was taken over by US-based Apollo Global, a joint venture formed in 2007 between Apollo Group and private equity house The Carlyle Group for £305m.

The news comes just after Kaplan Law School added Field Fisher Waterhouse and Mills & Reeve to its growing client roster earlier this month.

Kaplan’s LPC client list now boasts nine firms comprising Bates Wells & Braithwaite, Bird & Bird, Field Fisher Waterhouse, Manches, Mayer Brown, Mills & Reeve, Nabarro, Penningtons and Trowers & Hamlins.

Elsewhere, BPP’s arch-rival the College of Law (CoL) has announced surprise plans to launch a new £1.2m Bristol base in 2010 and will be welcoming the first cohort of students to its brand new Manchester branch later this month (September).

BPP meanwhile is also planning to launch in Bristol as well as Birmingham where CoL already has a presence.