Twelve City law firms have signed up to the College of Law's dispute resolution training consortium.

The programme of twelve courses concentrates on the basics of litigation and alternative dispute resolution, and will be taught to lawyers from zero to three years' post qualification experience. It follows similar pooled training programmes that have been introduced during recent years in the areas of corporate, property and banking.

The following firms will participate in the training: Berwin Leighton Paisner, Clyde & Co, Dechert, Dundas & Wilson, Lewis Silkin, Lovells, Mayer Brown, Mills & Reeve, Mishcon de Reya, Nabarro, Olswang and White & Case.

The primary appeal of the consortium training model is cost, with price per user falling as more firms participate.

Commenting on the consortium, Nabarro head of knowledge Mark Collins said: "We use it to supplement our in-house training, and as it is pretty standard civil procedure for junior associates, we have no issue doing it in conjunction with other law firms."

Other law schools offer similar courses, but none does so on a consortium basis for litigation training.

Colin Davey, the College's director of professional development, said: "As far as we are aware this is the first training consortium in the area of dispute resolution in the country. The programme leads directly on from work that the lawyers will have done at Legal Practice Course and Professional Skills Course level, and stretches participants so that they can manage the demands of practice more comfortably."