Three of the five firms in the City Legal Practice Course (LPC) consortium have reduced their 2009-10 maintenance grants in the wake of the launch of BPP Law School's new fast-track course.

The streamlined LPC, which was approved by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority in January and launched last month, runs over just seven-and-a-half months rather than the previous length of 10.

Future trainees at consortium firms Lovells, Slaughter and May, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Norton Rose and Herbert Smith all take study the LPC at BPP, and the move to cut the duration of the course has prompted three of the firms to revise their maintenance grants.

Lovells has opted to reduce its grant from £8,000 to £7,000, while Freshfields has cut its grant from £7,250 to £6,000, and Slaughters has reduced its grant to £5,580 from £7,450.

However, Herbert Smith and Norton Rose have opted to keep their grants at last year's level of £7,000.

The new course aims to increase the amount of face-to-face training that students receive. The 2009-10 intake is split into two, with half starting in August and the rest in February. It will then be up to individual consortium members to decide when the students join their firm after completing the course.