LPC pass rates fall as attainment gap between BAME and white students persists

Legal Practice Course (LPC) pass rates have declined while gaps in attainment remain between BAME and white students, as well as pass rates at the best and worst-performing law schools, research reveals.

Legal Futures has examined the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) latest annual report on education and training, which reveals that the number of LPC students passing the course fell from 66% in 2017 to 56% in 2018.

The report shows a gap in pass rates between BAME and white students, continuing a concerning pattern from previous years. Some 66% of white students passed the LPC, compared with 48% of Asian students and 35% of black students. Significantly more distinctions were awarded to white students.

There was no gap in pass rate between women and men students, but women were more likely to be awarded distinctions.

Meanwhile, the report shows large gaps between some of the 25 law schools providing the LPC, with five providers achieving pass rates of over 90% and three with pass rates under 50%. The top performing law school had a 100% pass rate, while the pass rate at the lowest-performing provider was just 29%. The law schools are anonymised in the report.

The research also reveals that the number of legal executives requalifying as solicitors continues to increase.