Maria thinks the course is ‘innovative’ and Zara says it works ‘really well’ for her
A website has used testimonials from four seemingly imaginary students to flog its Legal Practice Course (LPC) and Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL).
The Chancery Lane Institute for Professionals (CLIP), which is based in Dubai, offers two law courses that are Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) accredited (a spokesperson for the SRA this morning confirmed this was the case).
These courses are the one-year Legal Practice Programme — which CLIP states “satisfies the requirements of the traditional LPC” — and the Integrated Legal Practice Programme, which appears to roll the GDL and LPC into one 18-month course. The former will set you back US$20,000 (£16,000), and the latter $40,000 (£32,000). To put this into context, it will cost you between £7,700 and £15,740 to study the LPC in England and Wales.
To help sell its pricey courses, CLIP has a ‘Case Studies’ page on its website, which features glowing testimonials from four ‘aspiring lawyers’: Zara, Adam, Harris and Maria. To give you a flavour of these case studies, Zara says:
CLIP’s programme works really well for me, as I don’t have to travel to the UK to complete my GDL and LPC requirements.
As for Maria, she thinks:
[CLIP’s] innovative learning platform mean [sic] I don’t even have to relocate to Dubai… I will also save 6 months compared to doing a GDL and LPC in London!
Rave reviews no doubt. But at the very bottom of the ‘Case Studies’ page is this message:
A reverse image search shows Zara, Adam, Harris and Maria are not really CLIP law students but generic ‘professional person’ stock photos, which feature on a number of websites both in the UK and worldwide.
CLIP is yet to respond to Legal Cheek’s request for comment.
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