The LPC is a key element of vocational training and must be completed by everyone who intends to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. Some universities offer the opportunity to study the LPC but, more commonly, LPCs are completed with course providers like BPP University and The University of Law.
The LPC costs several thousand pounds and varies depending on where you study. The course can be studied full-time in one year or part-time over a longer period. As part of your Training Contract with a firm, you may be required to study a condensed, fast-tracked LPC at a particular institution. Many firms, like Baker McKenzie, will pay your course fees as part of your Training Contract and also provide a maintenance grant to help with living expenses. Our grant is £10,000.
The LPC course covers all the essentials you’ll need to start your career as a commercial lawyer. You’ll develop your advocacy, interviewing, advising and problem-solving skills, while getting a grounding in core practice areas such as Business Law and Civil and Criminal Litigation. You’ll also have the opportunity to choose from a range of specialist electives.
If you secure a Training Contract and are being sponsored by a firm, electives will usually be prescribed. At Baker McKenzie, you’ll study the City electives which are aligned with the Firm’s global transactional focus, alongside your future Trainee Solicitor cohort.
If you fund the LPC yourself, you’ll be able to select your own electives to suit your career goals. If you want to pursue a career as a commercial lawyer, you should seek advice from the careers service centre at your course provider and look into the commercial/corporate electives.
Baker McKenzie offers a Fast Track, seven-month LPC at the BPP University, Holborn, London. The course covers all the key skills you’ll need and the core practice areas – plus, it offers you three specialised electives: Debt Finance, Equity Finance and Private Acquisitions.
A number of firms offer Vacation Schemes for LPC students, while others will offer open days as well. If you do your research, you’ll find the opportunities available to you and whether you’re eligible to apply. Baker McKenzie offers a series of Open Days and a two-week Vacation Scheme in the spring for which LPC students are eligible to apply.
Please note however that the route to qualifying as a Solicitor is changing with the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). We will publish what this means for our future trainees in due course.
DURATION:
Seven months
LOCATION:
BPP University, Holborn, London