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 …

From Courtoons

The College of Law has taken another scalp in the battle to get exclusive sign-ups with law firms. Denton Wilde Sapte agreed to send all of its future trainees to study exclusively with the CoL.

From September, the CoL will deliver both the Legal Practice Course and the Graduate Diploma in Law for Dentons future trainees. Dentons’ young blood will be allowed to study at any of the College’s five centres in the UK.

More Law School news:

BPP and College of …

First off, it might surprise you that the graduate in question was not a law graduate; on the other hand, it might not surprise you that this case is from the US (their litigation culture being a little more ‘developed’ than ours). Trina Thompson is suing Monroe College a business-oriented college in the Bronx for her $70,000 tuition fees.  She contends that she didn’t get adequate career opportunities or help from Monroe’s careers service for her $70,000 in tuition. According …

A week after our social mobility czar claimed the professions were too elitist , the legal headlines are filled with news of a compulsory aptitude test for the Bar and Law Society warnings to students about pursuing a career in law.

Keeping access exclusive or managing expectations?

As it happens the OFT report on Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) plan to bring in a compulsory aptitude test for entry to the Bar Vocational Course (BVC) has concluded that the test would have …