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LSB says Legal Education Foundation will promote access

17 April 2012 | By Christian Metcalfe

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The Legal Services Board (LSB) has welcomed the establishment of the Legal Education Foundation, which has been spun out of the sale of the College of Law (CoL), saying it will promote further access to the profession.

As originally revealed by Lawyer 2B in its spring edition (23 February 2012), the £200m sale proceeds will go in to the Legal Education Foundation, which the charity will use to further its charitable objectives by providing bursaries, scholarships and grants to future students.

The CoL’s buyer Montagu Private Equity is also set to invest £2m in a College Scholarship Fund for the benefit of the college’s students, along with placing 2 per cent of the fully diluted share capital in the ultimate holding company into the fund.

Reacting to the announcement by the CoL, David Edmonds, Chairman of the LSB, said: “A vibrant and competitive market for the provision of legal education benefits consumers, those seeking to enter the legal professions and providers of legal services themselves. Today’s announcement by the College of Law is to be welcomed for two reasons.

“First, the establishment of Legal Education Foundation has the potential to act as a catalyst to promoting further access to the profession and to encouraging the ongoing development of new ideas.

“Second, such investment in the legal education sector will enhance competition, which we see as a key tool in improving the quality of the education provided and to promoting innovation. It is encouraging to see that the Governors of College of Law have decided to amend its organisational structure at a time when legal services providers are embracing new models of ownership and control,” he said.

The governors of CoL were advised on the sale by longstanding counsel Allen & Overy (26 January 2012).

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Readers' comments (2)

  • Anonymous | 22-Apr-2012 11:29 am

    A fascinating development and, on the face of it, what a great way to promote equal access to the profession. This also potentially resolves some of the undoubted concerns that certain recent actions of the CoL were compromising its charitable status.

    However, are bursaries going to be available to students to enable them to attend other institutions than the COL?
    If not, then this simply represents a way of a charity guaranteeing in part the income of a private equity business (gaining all the advantages of charitable status). Given the huge competitive advantage this would give the CoL there must surely be some doubt as to whether or not this would increase choice or merely shore up the dominant market position of the two big players. As usual, unbridled competition would result in less choice not more so, unless this charity is truly independent of the CoL, the LSB'scomments are misplaced.

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  • barrie cunning | 23-Apr-2012 9:56 pm

    You have a good point, do you think its something the charity commission should look into..

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