Baker & McKenzie has become the first firm outside of the magic circle to switch to a fast-track Legal Practice Course (LPC) with the College of Law.

The international firm has announced that it is set to switch to the condensed course from next summer, with the first set of trainees due to start the seven-month course in July 2012. From then on, the course will run twice a year to accommodate both the March and the September intakes.

The move means Bakers joins Linklaters and Clifford Chance in utilising the fast-track LPC at the College of Law.

Bakers training partner Monica Kurnatowska said: "In common with others in the market we believe the new accelerated LPC is a positive development. It means that there is less of a delay between recruitment and when someone physically starts at the firm."

She added: "This will benefit both the firm and the trainees themselves. We will work closely with the College of Law to develop a bespoke LPC which meets the particular needs of our trainees."

The news comes after recently-merged Squire Sanders Hammonds last month became the first firm outside the five-firm City LPC consortium to sign up to the accelerated LPC with rival BPP Law School. The firm signed up to the shortened course so that it could send its trainees on a three-month client secondment before they join the firm.

City consortium firms Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Herbert Smith, Slaughter and May and Norton Rose have been sending their trainees on BPP Law School's fast-track course since 2009.