Linklaters launches fast-track LPC
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The College of Law (CoL) has teamed up with Linklaters to introduce a fast-track Legal Practice Course(LPC) for the magic circle firm’s future trainee solicitors.
In a radical move the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has given CoL the green light to accelerate its specially tailored course exclusively for Linklaters from 10 months to just seven-and-a-half months.
Linklaters trainee development partner Simon Firth said: “Going forward, it [the accelerated LPC] will mean there’ll be a shorter time between recruitment and joining the firm. Plus trainees will benefit from the continuity of learning they’ll gain, as they’ll join the firm straight after their LPC.”
The new-look LPC will be introduced from January 2011 and will be run twice a year - commencing in January and July of each year - to accommodate the firm’s March and September intakes.
It will feature a combination of face-to-face tuition with the supervised online “S-mode” learning method that CoL has recently developed for its LLM programmes.
But the amount of time Linklaters’ future joiners spend in classrooms is not the only thing that has been cut. The normal £7,000 maintenece grant the firm pays its future trainees has been slashed to £5,000.
The news comes after BPP Law School launched an accelerated LPC programme for trainee solicitors joining member firms of the City LPC consortium last year.
BPP slashed its LPC from 10 months to seven-and-a-half months for the City LPC consortium, which comprises Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May.
The move coincides with the SRA unveiling the official list of institutions that are to teach the new-look LPC last month (January).
Readers' comments (5)
old bailey | 12-Feb-2010 10:59 am
The worrying trend continues....
Hmmm.....I see Nigel Savage has changed his tune - or is this still his opinion?
Nigel Savage, College of Law | 9-Jan-2009 11:49 am
Worrying trend
I've got some worries about everyone cutting down content and reducing the length of course. What we're focussing on is putting more depth and rigour into our LPC.
http://l2b.thelawyer.com/city-consortium-to-fast-track-trainees-through-lpc/136207.article
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LawyerNot2B | 12-Feb-2010 11:37 am
I don't have a problem with what Linklaters is doing and personally think the LPC can be done in a much shorter period of time. What does worry me, however, is that if BPP and the College can develop fast-track courses for their prestigious City clients why can't they do the same for students who have to fund the LPC themselves. The LPC keeps going on about making access to the profession fairer so why is it allowing such developments, which are the biggest contributers to creating an unfair two tier system.
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Anonymous | 12-Feb-2010 11:48 am
a radical move by the SRA? make up your mind lawyer2b! in your jan 2009 aricle husnara begum said that too when bpp introduced the same course - i know, am on it! any more radical moves coming from the SRA? cant wait.
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Legal aid solicitor | 13-Feb-2010 1:03 pm
The LPC is a joke. I completed the LPC in 2005 at the College of Law and will never forget the endless shi*e we had to learn on the BLP compulsory.
I had always intended on becoming a legal aid lawyer and was baffled at the 'one size fits all' course and was particularly miffed at the bulk of the course being based on BLP.
I understand that since I completed the course there is now a 'legal aid pathway' but notwithstanding that, BLP still features heavily.
It doesn't get any better when you get a training contract and have to attend the PSC course, where again you are examined on financial business.
I appreciate that students have to learn and be examined on areas of law they have no intention of specilising in, but the content of these subjects were no where near as vast as the content of BLP.
The content of the LPC as a whole needs a good shake-up. Instead, we see a nicely tailored course for Linklaters trainees. How wonderful.
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Legal aid solicitor | 13-Feb-2010 1:23 pm
thanks for not posting my comment. Bloody cheek
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