Kaplan Law School is closing in what it has described, in a triumph of public relations over reality, as an "exciting opportunity".
There will be one year more of teaching, but then in 2016 all staff will be made redundant and the doors locked. Sources report that dean John Clifford has already left.
Kaplan is the third largest law school provider after ULaw and BPP and serves hundreds of students, with 275 on the LPC and around 110 on the GDL. Admissions have been dropping, however, and although the school claimed to be "one of the fastest growing legal training providers in London", it has actually been losing firms hand over fist: it has been dropped by Shearman & Sterling and Trowers & Hamlins in the last few months, although Kaplan's website still erroneously lists them as clients. Kaplan already closed its BPTC down last year, blaming the "economics of the course".
Kaplan also delivers Nottingham Law School's LPC and GDL in London. A spokeswoman for NLS told RollOnFriday that the closure would not affect students who are due to complete their studies before September 2016. However it will affect those due to finish later but, as she pointed out enticingly, Nottingham Law School will "continue to run its vibrant LPC and GDL portfolios in Nottingham".
News of the closure, which was broken by RollOnFriday, leaves individuals in the lurch as well as the remaining eight firms which still sent their students to Kaplan: that's Bates Wells Braithwaite, Fieldfisher, Holman Fenwick Willan, Ince & Co, Pennington Manches, Mayer Brown, Mills & Reeve and Nabarro. An ex-student has already told RollOnFriday about their experiences in a fitting and respectful eulogy.
RollOnFriday understands that Kaplan told its client firms the bad news in a series of meetings on Monday. An Ince & Co spokeswoman told RollOnFriday that, unsurprisingly, it was not yet in a position to confirm its future plans. But ULaw and BPP are already circling, keen for that sweet sweet Incey love. With the students for 8 firms up for grabs, it promises to be the driest popularity contest of all time.
A Kaplan spokeswoman proficient in the dark arts of spin told RollOnFriday that the law school was definitely not closing because of catastrophic failure, oh no no no, but because the SRA's 'Training for Tomorrow' programme "has opened up the prospect of exciting new possibilities for the route to qualification as a solicitor". Kaplan has therefore decided, she said, to drop the GDL and LPC to "concentrate its resources on developing innovative new products that draw on the Training for Tomorrow framework". The other law schools must be kicking themselves for not having spotted this incredible gap in the market.
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There will be one year more of teaching, but then in 2016 all staff will be made redundant and the doors locked. Sources report that dean John Clifford has already left.
Kaplan is the third largest law school provider after ULaw and BPP and serves hundreds of students, with 275 on the LPC and around 110 on the GDL. Admissions have been dropping, however, and although the school claimed to be "one of the fastest growing legal training providers in London", it has actually been losing firms hand over fist: it has been dropped by Shearman & Sterling and Trowers & Hamlins in the last few months, although Kaplan's website still erroneously lists them as clients. Kaplan already closed its BPTC down last year, blaming the "economics of the course".
Kaplan also delivers Nottingham Law School's LPC and GDL in London. A spokeswoman for NLS told RollOnFriday that the closure would not affect students who are due to complete their studies before September 2016. However it will affect those due to finish later but, as she pointed out enticingly, Nottingham Law School will "continue to run its vibrant LPC and GDL portfolios in Nottingham".
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News of the closure, which was broken by RollOnFriday, leaves individuals in the lurch as well as the remaining eight firms which still sent their students to Kaplan: that's Bates Wells Braithwaite, Fieldfisher, Holman Fenwick Willan, Ince & Co, Pennington Manches, Mayer Brown, Mills & Reeve and Nabarro. An ex-student has already told RollOnFriday about their experiences in a fitting and respectful eulogy.
RollOnFriday understands that Kaplan told its client firms the bad news in a series of meetings on Monday. An Ince & Co spokeswoman told RollOnFriday that, unsurprisingly, it was not yet in a position to confirm its future plans. But ULaw and BPP are already circling, keen for that sweet sweet Incey love. With the students for 8 firms up for grabs, it promises to be the driest popularity contest of all time.
A Kaplan spokeswoman proficient in the dark arts of spin told RollOnFriday that the law school was definitely not closing because of catastrophic failure, oh no no no, but because the SRA's 'Training for Tomorrow' programme "has opened up the prospect of exciting new possibilities for the route to qualification as a solicitor". Kaplan has therefore decided, she said, to drop the GDL and LPC to "concentrate its resources on developing innovative new products that draw on the Training for Tomorrow framework". The other law schools must be kicking themselves for not having spotted this incredible gap in the market.
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