The University of Law (ULaw) has lost another law firm’s business to rival BPP with Baker & McKenzie becoming the latest to switch its training provider.
The move will see Bakers’ trainee intake, which currently stands at 30 annually, be taught at BPP University Law School based in Waterloo and Holborn. The firm joins 39 others which already use the university with its more business-orientated legal courses gaining popularity in the City.
In 2013, Allen & Overy teamed up with BPP on a business-focused Legal Practice Course and MA while ULaw 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.
A spokesperson for Bakers said: ‘We invest heavily in recruiting the best trainees and in providing training and development to help them reach their full potential as top, commercially-minded, lawyers. The BPP programme best matches our needs at the current time and we are looking forward to working with them. We would like to thank The University of Law for many successful years of delivering the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) to our trainees.’
Europe’s largest law school, ULaw was sold by Montagu Private Equity to Global University Systems (GUS) earlier this month and less than three years after the private equity house acquired it. Linklaters, which recently renewed its partnership with the university for five years, acted for Montagu on the sale while Eversheds picked up the mandate from buyer GUS. Travers Smith advised the management of ULaw with a team led by Paul Dolman.
michael.west@legalease.co.uk