After one City trainee revealed they’ll be living in an Airbnb because their grant doesn’t cover London rent
Linklaters and Slaughter and May have increased their Legal Practice Course (LPC) maintenance grant by £3,000. A quartet of magic circle outfits now offer five-figure sums, this increase coming weeks after one Legal Cheek reader revealed they’ll be spending their LPC living in an Airbnb because their grant doesn’t cover London rent.
In January, we exclusively reported that Clifford Chance and Freshfields had boosted their LPC grants by 43% to £10,000. This saw the magic circle duo overtake its rivals by £3,000 each. All five magic circle firms cover LPC course fees, too.
Now, Linklaters and Slaughters have followed Clifford Chance and Freshfields’ lead and boosted their grant offerings. Legal Cheek has spoken to Allen & Overy; the firm has declined to comment.
Slaughters tells us this change will be brought in immediately, this leaving students with £10,000 to play with during their accelerated LPC. Future trainees who started their LPC this year will also benefit from the increase. Linklaters’ current LPC cohort will receive the increased grant, too.
With many City firms offering generous Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) grants too, you might imagine scoring a training contract would see you automatically plunged into the lap of luxury. But, one Legal Cheek reader and £7,000 grant receiver has a very different take on things.
In a comment published on a recent Legal Cheek article, the working-class student told us their grant isn’t enough to pay London rent and they are “fully expecting” to have to live in an Airbnb throughout the course. They added:
“The current system undeniably results in individuals from backgrounds similar to mine to rejecting offers as £7000 to live from in London for 8 months is quite simply impossible. Even with my savings I worry that I’m going to run out of money prior to completing the course, and quite frankly I have no idea what will happen if that occurs. Even at this point I’ve had to consider dropping out, and resultantly lose everything I worked for when attending a shit comprehensive school and university.”