BPP Law School Under Fire
BPP has received some unwanted attention recently. First came the news in September that BPP had requested volunteers to leave its Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and take up places next year with a £2,000 incentive. Then reports emerged that Apollo Global, the American company that bought BPP for £303m earlier this year, is under investigation in the US over alleged accounting irregularities. Whilst the latter issue has little to do with BPP itself, it being a UK registered …
BPP has received some unwanted attention recently. First came the news in September that BPP had requested volunteers to leave its Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and take up places next year with a £2,000 incentive. Then reports emerged that Apollo Global, the American company that bought BPP for £303m earlier this year, is under investigation in the US over alleged accounting irregularities. Whilst the latter issue has little to do with BPP itself, it being a UK registered company, the former has now blown up once again.
It is understood that BPP’s deferral move was made at the request of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) which oversees the limit on the number of students that providers are authorised to admit onto BVC courses. At the time it was not clear whether BPP had merely made administrative errors or there had been some sort of deliberate attempt to oversubscribe the course. However, the Times reports that BPP is now accused of exploiting demand for law school places in the name of profit:
One of London’s most prestigious law schools is under investigation amid allegations that it exploited student demand, packing in extra numbers to boost income by almost £1 million.
BPP, which takes more than 1,000 aspiring lawyers in London a year — many for top “magic circle” law firms — is under inquiry by the Bar’s regulatory body after exceeding its approved quota by more than 25 per cent.
