Four courses on top as City LPC gets nod

Nottingham Law School - which with two other law schools was this week given the green light to run a legal practice course (LPC) aimed exclusively at City practice - is one of only four colleges to be rated 'excellent' in the first ever publication of LPC provider grades.Cardiff Law School, Exeter University and the University of the West of England also have 'excellent' grades, but have not been reassessed in the past year, as Nottingham has (see table, below).Sheffield and Staffordshire universities are the only two with 'very good' ratings.

The two other providers of the City LPC - the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice and BPP Law School - have 'good' ratings.Bournemouth University, University of Glamorgan and Leeds MetropolitanUniversity are rated the next rung down as 'satisfactory'.

None was unsatisfactory.The College of Law's branches all receive 'good' grades; however it is understood that a recent assessment - yet to be approved formally by the LPC board - upgrades the London branch to 'very good'.The College's London branch runs the most expensive LPC course at 7,075, while the Oxford Institute comes second at 7,000.

Wolverhampton Unversity is the cheapest at 4,500.

The average cost for the course is 5,880.Results of last year's LPC showed that Nottingham - with a 95% pass rate - was top of the tree there as well.

Thames Valley University and University of Central England, with 41% and 51% pass rates respectively, were bottom.

The College of Law's pass rate ranged from 76% to 80% in its various branches.

BPP's pass rate was 61%.Bernadette Griffin, the Law Society's chief education and training officer, said pass rates are 'a factor no greater than any other' in establishing the overall grading.Nottingham's quality of teaching and materials was judged 'of the highest standard'.

It also has 'excellent careers support for those without training contracts', and 'modern purpose-built accommodation', the Society's assessment stated.Law Society assessors look at teaching and learning, resources, student guidance, course organisation and quality assurance.

Nigel Savage, director of the College of Law, said the results should have been published at the end of the academic year.

He said: 'They are unfair and misleading for those colleges visited late, or whose ratings have not yet been approved by the Society's LPC board.'The green light for the City LPC will come as a relief to the eight-firm consortium - Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Herbert Smith, Linklaters, Lovells, Norton Rose and Slaughter and May - which was criticised by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, among others, for elitism.Having taken counsel's advice, the Society has approved the course, subject to three conditions: intake at the colleges can only be reserved for up to 60% of trainees from the consortium; there will be ongoing monitoring to avoid discrimination; and assessment levels must continue to track the mainstream LPC.Melvyn Hughes, executive partner at Slaughter and May who chairs the consortium, said he was pleased to receive Law Society approval.

Mr Hughes added that the conditions 'don't cause us a problem now, and I do not believe they will in the future'.see editorial page 16LINKS www.lawsociety.org.uk The assessments will be on the Society's Web site from 1 February

Where marks were won and lost in the grading systemLegal Practice Course - assessment of institutions as at 30 January 2001Institution

Anglia Polytechnic UniversityBournemouth UniversityBPP Law SchoolCardiff Law SchoolCollege of Law LondonCollege of Law ChesterCollege of Law GuildfordCollege of Law YorkDe Montfort UniversityDe Montfort at Birmingham UniversityDe Montfort at Bristol UniversityExeter UniversityGlamorgan UniversityHuddersfield UniversityLeeds Metropolitan UniversityLondon Guildhall UniversityManchester Metropolitan UniversityNorthumbria University at NewcastleNottingham Law SchoolOxford Institute of Legal PracticeSheffield UniversityStaffordshire UniversityThames Valley UniversityUniversity of Central EnglandUniversity of the West of EnglandWestminster UniversityWolverhampton University

Rating

*GoodSatisfactory*Good*Excellent*GoodGoodGood*GoodGood*GoodGood*ExcellentSatisfactory*GoodSatisfactoryGood*GoodGoodExcellentGoodVery goodVery goodGoodGood*Excellent*GoodGood

Pass rate

65%81%61%78%76%78%80%77%72%80%92%70%73%57%66%62%65%92%95%80%65%69%41%51%72%58%68%

Cost ()

5,1005,2506,8506,0307,0756,6756,8756,6755,4005,6005,9505,9005,3005,1505,1005,8505,7005,2006,6757,0005,7005,2505,3254,9705,6006,3554,500

Notes: The table features full-time courses only.* These colleges received one-day visits last year; they will be reassessed this year on the usual two-year cycle.

This is their existing grading.

The five grades are: excellent, very good, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory.

The Inns of Court School of Law began providing the LPC last year (cost 6,605) and has not yet been assessed.

The College of Law's Birmingham branch opens this year (cost 6,875).