Are law students being taken for a ride?

A timely reminder with exams approaching of one of the disadvantages of the legal training process - namely, that there are now many more students than jobs - arrives in the form of this story from the Times. Leading law school BPP is being investigated by the Bar Council for exceeding its approved quota of students by more than 25%, meaning that in some cases students who have secured a pupillage were left facing the prospect of being withdrawn by BPP from their place on the Bar Vocational Course. The Times correctly notes that BPP stand to gain amost £1m in extra fees from this over-subscription.For students, this highlights the perception that, whilst law schools may be keen to take their money, the more students they take on, the less places there are on completion of either the BVC or LPC. There are allegations that BPP were taking advantage of would-be lawyers, although of course we await the outcome of the Bar Standards Board’s investigation…