New in-house TCs start in September this year
The BBC is to throw a lifeline to students who are doing the Legal Practice Course (LPC) without having first secured a training contract — as it prepares to launch a new 2015 start-date training contract scheme.
The programme will see three training contracts offered to begin in September this year. Applicants will be required to have completed the LPC by that time, with the BBC not offering a reimbursement of successful candidates’ law school fees. However, a salary of around £25,000 should at least help to stabilise them financially.
Applications, which will be via the BBC Careers website, will open at the beginning of March.
The training contract will feature four seats across the organisation’s London hubs. One will be in the BBC legal division, based in White City in West London, and largely involve contentious and non-contentious intellectual property work. Another will be in BBC Worldwide, also in White City, where the trainees will work on commercial law matters. Time will also be spent in the Beeb’s rights, legal and business affairs team, based in New Broadcasting House in Fitzrovia. A final seat will be done with one of the BBC’s panel of law firms, which include Olswang and Latham & Watkins.
The news follows the BBC’s beefing up of its legal team’s junior ranks last year with a number of school-leaver legal apprentices.
BBC Legal learning and development manager Alison Neil said that the organisation was seeking wannabe solicitors who are keen to train in-house, commenting:
“We will be looking for those candidates who can show at interview why they are interested in training in-house rather than at any private practice law firm, and who understand what a legal in-house career is about.”
She added a note of caution, warning that the roles would be light on celeb glamour and heavy on the law:
“We also want people who can demonstrate why they want to work for the BBC, and BBC Legal specifically: those who understand that it is still a legal job, not mixing with celebrities every night.”