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BPP is one of the leading law schools in the country; it prepares you for the start of your career by successfully combining theoretical law with law in practice. Through various compulsory and elective modules the law school provides you with excellent teaching and resources to achieve an extremely high standard of legal knowledge.

Further, the law school combines subject modules with the assessment of practical skills such as interviewing and legal drafting, which ensures that when you start out as a trainee solicitor you are fully prepared for legal practice.

BPP also has an award winning Pro-Bono Centre which not only gives you the opportunity to help others but it also gives you an insight into real workings of law in practice.

The Pro Bono Centre asks willing students to become involved with various initiatives, including: the Legal Advice Clinic; the Environmental Group; the Human Rights Unit; the Law Firm Shadowing Project; the Legal Translation Services; the Mediation Friend Project; and the Streetlaw Group.

The law building is extremely impressive and contemporary, with a practical layout; different floors are dedicated to BVC or LPC students, and teaching staff. There are a number of computer rooms, small and large teaching classrooms, common rooms, and there is a café in the basement.

Every student also has their own locker, which are distributed throughout the various floors of the building: the lockers come in extremely useful for housing the volumes of books each student has!

Compulsory subjects are studied from September to January, with assessments in February. The compulsory subjects include Business Law & Practice, Property Law & Practice and Litigation (made up of Criminal and Civil). The compulsories give each student a sound base of knowledge in subjects that underlie the majority of legal work encountered by solicitors.

Elective subjects are studied from the end of March to May, with assessments in June. There is a wide range of elective subjects to choose from, giving each student the opportunity to specialise in their chosen area of law.

The entire year of LPC students are split into different cohorts; on average there is about four cohorts. Within each cohort there are different seminar groups (Small Group Sessions), which have about 20 students per group. Lectures (Large Group Sessions) tend to comprise of an entire cohort for the compulsories.

For the smaller elective choices lectures can comprise of a mixture; for more popular elective subjects the lectures tend to be given to each cohort separately. The number of hours per week dedicated to lectures and Small Group Sessions varies according to the subject.

On average students tend to have one two hour SGS a week (sometimes two) and two one hour lectures a week (sometimes one). Students are expected to spend sufficient time on self-study per week (again this varies with each subject), for most subjects students are expected to spend three hours preparing for each SGS, dependant on the size and difficulty of the SGS.

Within the Small Group Sessions classes tend to be split into subgroups where each subgroup gives presentations on various questions and issues, giving realistic legal and commercial advice to problems. This system works effectively in building the students’ confidence, working as teams or individually.

There is also a personal tutor system, whereby each student has a personal tutor who they can direct any questions to; whether it is about the LPC itself, careers advice or general personal support.

Lectures tend to be taken by different lecturers each week ensuring a fresh spin is always added to each subject. Furthermore, the majority of tutors and lecturers have been hand picked from some of the country’s top law firms, giving them the edge of practical experience that is invaluable to students on the LPC.

Tutors and lecturers constantly use past experiences as case examples in Small Group Sessions and lectures, giving students an insight into real life legal scenarios; yet another way BPP effectively gives its students a practical advantage to their studies.

BPP Holborn is in the heart of central London, giving every student the opportunity to be a part of the buzz of City life. It is surrounded by a number of prestigious law firms, the Royal Courts of Justice, the Law Society, as well as Covent Garden, Oxford Street and the Strand. It is safe to say that students are never stuck for things to do if studying gets too much!

The fees are standard for London law schools. The cost includes all manuals, books and other material needed throughout the LPC.

In addition to the fees, BPP is obliged to collect Law Society membership fees from each LPC student, and Bar Council fees for BVC students.

BPP in London does not give you the opportunity of paying fees in monthly instalments. However there is a scholarship scheme at BPP; a Law Society bursary scheme; and various other funding options that students may choose to partake in, including local authority grants and employer sponsorship.

At the start of the LPC there are cohort drinks, which gives students the opportunity to meet and socialise with others in their cohort and tutor groups (breaking the ice at the start of the year and settling some nerves!). Staff also attend the drinks giving everyone the chance to meet and talk with their teachers and lecturers.

In addition, there are end of term and end of exam socials; these tend to be organised by student representatives and take place at some of London’s best nightclubs and bars, with discounted entry fees and cheap drinks all night!

As BPP Holborn is in the heart of the City students are never stuck for places to go to eat, drink and generally socialise. There are some fantastic restaurants, bars and pubs within easy reach of the law school, with the closest pub three doors down!

There are also a number of BPP student led clubs, societies, quizzes, mooting competitions and sports teams (such as Netball, Hockey and Football). Each of these societies holds their own social events, giving students an even better opportunity to meet new people and friends, whilst enjoying London’s nightlife.

The careers centre at BPP is extremely helpful, with support staff on site available to give advice on covering letters, CVs, application forms, interview technique and so on. The careers advisors help with applying for placements and training contracts, although the careers system works a lot more effectively if the students take the time to email or contact the careers staff individually.

There are also weekly emails from the careers centre notifying students of vacancies, whether in training contracts, paralegal work, volunteer work etc. There is an online careers information service and guidance on the student intranet, including feedback from previous interviewees on interviews for training contracts and pupilages.

BPP also run an ‘Access to Practice’ scheme, which links students with local practitioners who offer individual support and advice on careers. The careers centre also holds annual law fairs giving students the opportunity to network with different law firm representatives (for training contracts) and recruitment agencies (for law related work e.g. paralegal positions).