After losing two Magic Circle firms as clients, the University of Law has managed to retain Linklaters with the duo announcing a five-year partnership which continues the trend of further integrating business and management modules in courses taken by trainees.
The new course, entitled MSc in Law, Business and Management, was designed with input from the Magic Circle firm and will be taught to all of its trainees but will also be open to all law firms from September 2015. It comprises both an enhanced Legal Practice course and a masters-level business and management qualification.
The move will come as a relief to the university which saw Allen & Overy move away from ULaw and team up with BPP on a business-focused LPC and MA in 2013 while it also lost Clifford Chance as a client to BPP in September last year (2014) when the firm decided to increase the amount of business taught to trainees.
John Latham, chief executive and president of ULaw said: ‘Linklaters has been justifiably exacting in its requirements, and working together we have been able to deliver a market leading proposition that will equip Linklaters trainees for the legal and commercial challenges faced in today’s workplace.’
Linklaters’ global head of learning and development, Wendy Tomlinson, added: ‘We demand the highest standards of our training providers to ensure the next generation of Linklaters trainees have all the key competencies to meet all the outcomes required in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market.’
michael.west@legalease.co.uk