Law school is star player of BPP group

BPP Law School has outperformed the rest of its parent company with a turnover growth of 29 per cent in 2004.

As first revealed on www.thelawyer.com (16 March), annual results for the BPP group, which provides a variety of professional services training, showed turnover of £118.7m, a rise of 7 per cent, with the law school accounting for 65 per cent of that growth.

The law school, which is the second-largest division in BPP behind the accountancy and tax division, reported an income of £19.8m, up from 2003's £14m.

The news comes ahead of the opening of a Manchester law school in June. Last September, BPP opened its first regional law school in Leeds, and in March 2004 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May signed exclusive agreements with the law school for the provision of the City LPC.

BPP's student body rose from 771 students on the full-time GDL course in 2003-04 to 1,000 in the current academic year. Student numbers on the LPC course also rose, from 761 to 1,070. The increases were due principally to the new Leeds school, which recently received a 'very good' rating from the Law Society.

BPP Law School chief executive Peter Crisp said the school's emphasis on careers advice, pro bono and facilities was key to its success.

He added: "All that we're producing, our surplus, is being ploughed back into investment in law schools. It's very satisfactory indeed."