Love it or hate it, you cannot but admire the way Linklaters ruthlessly pursues its goals. The firm was at it again last week when it confirmed that a Law Society validation panel had approved a bespoke Legal Practice Course (LPC) that the College of Law will run for it from 2006 onwards. Make no mistake, this is a radical move. Linklaters’ model, which is being emulated by Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy, takes the concept of a tailored course significantly further than the City LPC that the trio, along with five other top firms, set up amid some controversy in 2001. The existing City LPC course is not exclusive to the consortium’s students, allowing the grouping to counter charges that the arrangement is elitist, or even anti-competitive.
This non-exclusive arrangement will remain under the new deal that the five remaining members of the consortium have agreed with BPP when their current contract with BPP, Nottingham Law School and the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice expires. In contrast, the breakaway trio are effectively establishing their own private ‘universities’, which they are outsourcing to the College of Law.
