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BPP offers free LPC to future Bar grads who don’t get pupillage — but excludes its current BPTC students from the deal

Late yesterday afternoon an interesting tweet appeared…

We spoke to BPP Law School boss Peter Crisp and he gave us these additional details:

> The deal starts next year and DOESN’T apply to this year’s Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) students.

> It must be taken up within 12 months of graduating from the BPTC (which, when you think about it, is quite a narrow window).

> The shortened version of the Legal Practice Course (LPC) which future BPP BPTC grads will be eligible for will, thanks to a number of exemptions, take just four months if studied full time. It can also be done part-time.

Crisp — who has previously urged wannabe lawyer to avoid the criminal Bar — explained the move like this: “Pupillages are decreasing and it is a big risk taking on the BPTC. This is one way of mitigating the risk.”

However, reading between the lines, the reasoning behind the offer seems to be a concern to avoid a backlash against law schools charging £17K for a course that is unlikely to lead to a job at a time when undergraduate fees have just trebled.

If BPP avoids attracting the tag as the downmarket law school where the Bar no-hopers go — a risk with this sort of strategy (see tweet below) — expect other providers to follow.

What a shame, though, that BPP has chosen to exclude its current BPTC students from the offer. Just to recap on the absurdity of the situation which awaits them: there are expected to be around 400 pupillages in the next application round being fought over by approximately 1,700 enrolled BPTC students and many more jobless hopefuls from previous years.


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