BPP has picked up Ince & Co as a client while Mills & Reeve is allowing trainees to pick for themselves following Kaplan’s announcement it will close its law school.
Apollo Education Group’s BPP has picked up the majority of mandates so far after Kaplan announced in August it would no longer offer LPC courses. The legal educator has so far added Ince, Mayer Brown, Nabarro and Holman Fenwick Willan to its client roster after Kaplan announced its closure. The University of Law (ULaw) had signed former Kaplan clients Shearman & Sterling and Trowers & Hamlins ahead of the law school’s closure while after the announcement Penningtons Manches has said that students can switch this year to ULaw but it will carry out a full review of its options.
Another Kaplan client, Fieldfisher is yet to make a decision on a new provider. A spokesman for Fieldfisher told Legal Business it was in the process of a tender but refused to say which educators were involved.
An Ince & Co spokesman said the firm’s deal with BPP was effective immediately, but declined to comment further.
Meanwhile, London trainees at Mills & Reeve will pick their own learning providers following the closure of Kaplan’s law school as the firm said it will not sign with either BPP or ULaw.
Mills & Reeve, which has about 20 trainees per year, had a deal with Kaplan for its London trainee cohort. While six will complete their London courses with Kaplan this year, no trainees in the upcoming year’s intake were planning to study in the capital.
While trainees may choose to study with BPP, ULaw or other providers, following the closure of Kaplan’s law school there would be no deal with a particular school.
Mills & Reeve partner Brian Marshall told Legal Business that while the larger firms had bespoke courses tailored to them which reflected their work profile, Mills & Reeve simply didn’t have the numbers to sign a deal with the major players.
‘Although we do have some unique disciplines, we don’t see an advantage, it would be different if we had larger numbers,’ he added.
victoria.young@legalease.co.uk