Featuring on the front page of the Spring 2012 edition of the Lawyer 2B was the story that the College of Law was for sale – this sale is now set to complete, with Montagu Private Equity buying the College.

The purpose of the sale is to provide the College with the expertise required to seize new opportunities available in the domestic and global legal education market. With the legal sector currently undergoing vast changes as a result of the Legal Services Act, it seemed only a matter of time before legal education would likewise be affected. One key difficulty surrounding the sale was the charitable status currently held by the CoL and the subsequent use of the proceeds of sale. It has been decided that the proceeds of sale are to be used to establish ‘The Legal Education Foundation’ – dedicated to the promotion of legal education. As one of the largest independent educational charities in the UK, the Foundation is to launch a new scholarship fund for students with an investment of £2 million. This will hopefully prove to be of great assistance.

With regards to the CoL as a brand and a business, students have been assured that it is very much ‘business as usual’ and that there will be no changes to study, the course or the qualifications awarded. Lets hope that this sale proves to be a profitable one for students and enables more aspiring lawyers access to a legal education.