Move away from South Bank premises follows ditching of Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), as Kaplan re-focuses on Legal Practice Course (LPC) which is to be extended to include a free LLM qualification.
Exclusive: Kaplan Law School is to leave its delightful — yet expensive — home on the banks of the River Thames.
Rent on the premises, which are sandwiched between Borough Market and London’s South Bank, is believed to have increased substantially in recent years. Accordingly, from September Kaplan Law School will be based in a rather less glamorous building on Borough High Street that is currently occupied by sister organisation Kaplan Financial.
The accountancy students based in the building will be moved to a new location.
The news comes hot-on-the-heels of Friday’s announcement that Kaplan is to discontinue its BPTC at the end of the summer. The move is part of a strategy to re-position Kaplan’s focus exclusively around the GDL and LPC after its attempt to run a small, high-end BPTC foundered.
In the meantime, Kaplan is seeking to underline its commitment to the solicitor training market by offering all its LPC students a masters alongside their qualification. The optional combined LPC and LLM package — which is subject to Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) approval — will apply from September and come at no extra charge for 2014-15 students. The LLM will be awarded by Nottingham Trent University, with which Kaplan has a longstanding partnership.
A spokesperson for Kaplan Law School told Legal Cheek:
“We are devoting all of our resources to the GDL and LPC, which are our core mission. With 16 client firms working with us on the LPC, and an excellent split between self-funding and sponsored places, this much larger market is the one on which we are focusing our energies.”
Kaplan Law School launched in 2007. It is owned by the US education giant Kaplan Inc.
Previously: Kaplan to ditch its Bar Professional Training Course