CMS Cameron McKenna and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert have become the latest firms to sign up their future trainees to exclusive law courses, Legal Week can reveal, as BPP Law School and the College of Law rapidly carve up the UK legal education market.

Camerons decided late last month to send all of its legal practice course (LPC) students in England and Wales to BPP from September 2007, while earlier this week, Barlows agreed in principle to send its trainees to the College of Law for a tailored LPC course from 2007.

Camerons will have input into BPP's LPC but it will not be a bespoke course like Barlows', which will have customised electives focusing on the firm's core litigation and insurance strengths.

The deals demonstrate a wider – and potentially controversial – trend among major law firms during the past two years towards a select band of education providers, with the College of Law and BPP rapidly squeezing out potential rivals like Cardiff and Nottingham law schools.

Legal Week has learned that top 30 firms Olswang and Macfarlanes are also midway through reviewing their course provisions with decisions expected before the end of September. Both firms are seen as likely to use single providers.

In addition, Denton Wilde Sapte and Richards Butler have both narrowed their list of preferred providers, with Dentons giving students the choice of just BPP and the College of Law and Richards Butler offering the same choices, with the addition of Nottingham. Pinsent Masons is also set to review its arrangements over the next year.

The only major City firm to clearly buck the trend is Ashurst, which recently considered using a single provider but decided against this in order to maintain flexibility for its students.

BPP is now the exclusive LPC provider to eight of the UK's top 20 law firms, comprising the five firms in the original City LPC consortium as well as Simmons & Simmons, Addleshaw Goddard and now Camerons.

The College of Law, meanwhile, has signed up Linklaters, Clifford Chance, Allen & Overy, Berwin Leighton Paisner and Baker & McKenzie for tailored LPC courses in addition to Barlows, with the three magic circle firms agreeing to five-year contracts.

The rush of deals is leading to a dramatic escalation in student numbers at the two law schools, with BPP set to have around 1,900 students nationally starting the LPC later this year, while the College of Law's numbers are set to rise to around 3,300.

Peter Crisp, chief executive of BPP, said: "Our classes are genuinely mixed and I hope what we provide is a wide range of electives that cater for what people want."

Nigel Savage, chief executive of the College of Law, told Legal Week: "People mocked us initially for tailoring but firms want it. I would expect a couple more firms to sign in September."

The spectre of BPP and the College of Law cutting a swathe through the UK's legal education market is likely to cause renewed concerns over diversity and the prospect of a two-tier profession.

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