BPP University College of Professional Studies apparently – BPP has just been awarded ‘university college’ status…
Goodbye increased access to the professions…
Law firms – early adopters of technology…?
The telecoms giant has followed the likes of Rio Tinto and Microsoft…
A poor little Harvard law student poured out his angst for the Harvard Law Record on the basis that, despite his or her Harvard-ness, a BigLaw offer was not forthcoming…
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 …
Record numbers of students are starting law courses this year…
BPP fans can rejoice.
In March Simmons & Simmons brought forward plans to create the first dedicated legal MBA. The course is due to be taught at BPP College of Professional Studies’ new City branch which was officially launched this week.
BPP’s new City school will be running the bespoke MBA for future Simmons & Simmons trainee solicitors and a Masters in Law and Business for SJ Berwin trainees. The MBA course is expected to be more widely available in coming …
Kaplan is to introduce a BVC entry test despite the Office of Fair Trading questioning the Bar Standard Board’s plans to introduce an aptitude test for the course. The test will be conducted in February next year, with successful candidates going on to form the first-ever intake of Kaplan’s BVC the following September.
Although the OFT’s concerns over competition were a sticking point for the BSB, there is nothing to stop individual law schools introducing their own entry tests.
There’s someting about American law schools that just seems to have a little bit of extra cachet. Particularly if the one in question has Harvard before it. As if that wasn’t enough though, how about this from Yahoo:
Tom, 47, apparently arrived late to class and slipped into a seat in the back row where he listened to the lesson.
He joined in with anecdotes and jokes while his lawyer friend taught the excited pupils, and discussed legal issues surrounding being …
The lucrative legal education market has seen the law schools eager to sign exclsive course provision tie-ins with firms over the last 12 months or so. The College of Law just has signed three more firms up to its LPC programme including Ashurst, Harbottle & Lewis and Stevens & Bolton. The Ashurst contract is a three year deal which will see up to 60 trainees each year study the LPC at the college’s London Moorgate. The CoL will also …
Some lecturers here may claim to use the Socratic Method of teaching but when it comes to crunch few go to the same lengths as American law schools. Law schools in the States commonly use the teaching method to stimulate rational thinking and to illuminate ideas from their students. All jolly exciting. What we are drawing attention to is the embarrasing moment that everyone encounters at some point in their educational and professional career which is not knowing the …
Too much of a good thing…?
News that BPP had requested volunteers to leave its Bar Vocational Course (BVC) and take up places next year with a £2,000 incentive was widely reported in the legal media at the end of last week. It is understood that the 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.
(This at a time …
Controversey on the training front this week…
The LSPI, a think tank that was established by the CoL in 2007, has published a paper that proposes moving the point of qualification for solicitors to successful completion of the LPC. i.e. everyone that completes it would get to be called a solicitor.
We can understand why everyone contemplating/studying/selling the LPC might like this as there are more LPC students than training contracts. Removing the final hurdle to qualifiaction (the training contract) or …
Even if a lot of what’s taught gets forgotten, there are normally one or two professors that are memorable. Hot, entertaining, sleep inducing; whatever it is they will be remembered through the rose-tinted haze. On the first day it’s not always apparent what your dealing with but there may be a clue (from Overheard Everywhere )…
Law student : The professor was late the first day because he couldn’t find his keys until he realized they were in the ignition …
The conclusions of report on university funding are likely to be greeted by students like a 9 o’clock seminar on a Monday morning. The Confederation of British Industry says the extra money needed to fund universities should come from savings in the student support system, i.e. making students pay higher fees and more interest on loans. Law students will be particularly horrified given the ever-rising cost of law school fees that will need to be added on top.
The report …
No we haven’t assigned anyone in the SolicitR team to become the Jeremy Clarkson of office tools. But we are known for occasionally straying away from a strictly legal menu. One of our readers sent us a selection of product reviews on Amazon that got hijacked by readers; this just happens to be the one we thought was most useful to lawyers:
Bic Cristal Ballpoint Pen, Medium Point, Black
Number of reviews: 188
Sample reviews:
i) All my life I have been scratching …
More law school-law firm cozyness as US firm Dechert signs an exclusive deal with BPP. The firm’s future UK trainees will be able to study at one of BPP’s Law Schools in London, Leeds or Manchester.
BPP now has exclusive contracts with 18 firms, one more than its main rival the College of Law which has 17 firms on its list. The CoL recently signed up Dentons.
Further law school news:
Indigestion as BPP swallowed by McDonalds of Education?
College of Law Seals …
Do education and profit provide a healthy mix? The sort of question to get policy-makers all hot under the collar is gradually being played out by one of our best known providers of legal education. When BPP agreed to a 620p-per-share offer from Apollo Global in June, the £303m takeover was the biggest buyout of a public company in the UK since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. It also signalled significant potential for change in UK higher …
One of our pet hates is the ‘abuse ‘ of laws by jumped up officials high on minime power. Lord Acton coined the phrase "power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" and when it comes to local councils you can find some of the worst offenders. Now we’re not talking about a lot of power here (think tap rather than hydroelectric dam) but somehow it still manages to go to the heads of some of the small …
