An introduction to ITC
ITC is a leading distance learning law school with over 3,000 students studying by distance learning at any one time. We are specialists in legal training and our students include aspiring solicitors and legal executives, legal support staff, students from many local authorities, government departments and commercial organisations, as well as from ITC's client organisations such as the Crown Prosecution Service.
Our mission
Our mission is to provide effective, high quality and accessible training to meet the needs of those wishing to gain professional or vocational legal qualifications. We strive for professionalism, innovation, flexibility in course delivery and excellence in customer service. We give you a flavour of how we do that in our 'Studying with us' section.
Our business
We are wholly owned by the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX), and have been operating for over a quarter of a century. We offer distance learning courses for all ILEX Level 3 and ILEX Level 6 units, amounting to forty separate courses which are updated and republished annually. As well as our ILEX business, we are also a key provider for the criminal justice sector, developing and delivering bespoke courses for the Crown Prosecution Service, police forces and other prosecutorial agencies. We have been in partnership with De Montfort University for over fifteen years in the delivery of vocational progammes for solicitor training.
Our ethos
ITC's ethos is to provide high-quality training at a reasonable cost to learners or their sponsoring organisation. We have invested heavily to enhance the quality of our programmes and to develop the best training methods to support our students.
As part of the ILEX Group we are committed to promoting equality in matters of race, disability and gender. We invite you to view the ILEX Group Single Equality and Diversity Scheme and Action Plan.
As a training provider, we are also committed to developing our own staff and are recognised as Investors in People.
Our people
ITC has an extensive in-house management team employed and based at Kempston in Bedfordshire. The Senior Management Group and Academic Development Group are profiled below. In addition, we draw on a wide pool of university lecturers and legal practitioners for our distance learning tutors, authors and subject advisers, all of whom are specialists in a particular area of law or legal practice.
Noel Inge
Managing Director
Noel graduated from Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire) with a first degree in law and an academic prize. After qualifying as a teacher at Birmingham University, he later passed with distinction a masters degree in employment law at Leicester University, through distance learning. He joined ITC in 1994, and became Managing Director in 1998.
Jenny Pelling
Business Director
Jenny Pelling joined ITC in 2004 and became the Business Director in 2009. She works with law firms and in-house legal departments, advising on CILEx training programmes for their paralegal staff from small groups to large in-house academies. Jenny is involved with Skills for Justice on the development of legal apprenticeships. She is a member of ITC’s Senior Management Group and Academic Development Group, plus the Legal Education and Training Group. Before ITC, Jenny read English at the University of Oxford, taught English in Italy and France and then converted to law doing the CPE and LPC. She qualified with Rowe & Maw (now Mayer Brown) in London and worked as a solicitor in their employment team. She has also worked in legal recruitment. Jenny has a teaching qualification through City & Guilds and a Post Graduate Certificate in Business Administration from the Open University.
Elizabeth Harding
Academic Manager
Elizabeth studied law at Leicester University and then worked within the insurance industry for several years, dealing with the creation of pension trusts. Her interest in Trust law led her into lecturing and for many years she has worked on the ILEX Professional Higher Diploma and the London University External LLB (Hons) degree programme teaching equity, trusts and succession.
Before joining ITC Elizabeth was Programme Manager for Law at a Further Education College in South London, overseeing academic achievement and undertaking extensive course development work. She completed her Masters degree in 'Training through Distance Learning' at Leicester University in 2003. She joined the team at ITC in April 2006 and is a member of the Senior Management Group and Academic Development Group.
Edward Stone
Editorial Manager
Edward studied Classics at St. Annes College, Oxford. After graduating he trained to become a solicitor, specialising in probate and private client work. He later took up lecturing, and joined ITC in 1997. As editorial manager Edward is responsible for liaising with the numerous freelance subject specialists who write our academic materials, and for managing the in-house editing and publishing departments, to ensure that our publications meet our quality standards, and that all materials are published on time. He is also a member of ITC's Senior Management Group and Academic Development Group.
Karl Cerski
Director of Finance
Karl graduated from Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) with an honours degree in business studies and joined Perkins Engines as a finance trainee, studying part-time for his professional accountancy exams with CIMA. He went on to hold a series of management accounting and financial management roles with Thomas Cook, Castle Cement (during which time he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant), John Laing Construction and EPL Access Ltd before joining ITC as Director of Finance in 2010. Karl is a member of ITC’s Senior Management Group.
David Porte
Director of Purchasing
David has spent most of his career in printing and publishing, and is responsible for ITC's in-house publishing operation, which handled 14 million pages of academic materials in 2010. In 2001 David was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies from De Montfort University, having been sponsored through the open learning course by ITC, and is a member of ITC's Senior Management Group.
Morag Hiskett
Marketing Manager
Morag Hiskett studied law at the University of Aberdeen. She was admitted as a solicitor in Scotland, before switching to a career in marketing with Scottish Newcastle Breweries plc and later with HP Bulmer plc. Morag subsequently qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales, and practised as a solicitor in Wiltshire before joining ITC as marketing manager in 1998. She is a member of ITC's Senior Management Group and Academic Development Group.
Kathryn Kirby
Courses Manager
After passing the ILEX Associate exams Kathryn gained her first degree in Law at Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University). Since then she has gained an LLM in Welfare Laws from Leicester University and an LPC by distance learning at Nottingham Trent University. She has spent many years lecturing and tutoring in law in Universities in Leicester and Warwick, and has recent experience of practice in the areas of costs and civil litigation. Kathryn is a member of the Academic Development Group.
Lisa Kidger
Assistant Academic Manager
Lisa graduated from the University of Nottingham with a first in law and completed her LPC at BPP Law School with distinction. She has a teaching qualification through City & Guilds and a Postgraduate Certificate in Online and Distance Education from the Open University. As Assistant Academic Manager she is involved in the production of academic materials and the provision of academic support to students. Lisa is also a member of the Academic Development Group.
Ruby Denton
Customer Service Manager
Ruby joined ITC as a computer operator upon commencement of the company's operations in September 1983, since when she has developed a unique knowledge of the company while working in a number of accounting and administrative roles. Ruby gained Membership of the Association of Accounting Technicians in 2001, and was appointed to her current role as Customer Services Manager in September 2004.
Rosemary Verlander-Smith
Professional Courses Manager
Rosemary joined ITC's Professional Courses team as a senior administrator in 2001, becoming manager of the department in July 2004. She has considerable experience of part-time law programmes, having completed her own LLB through De Montfort University's part-time programme while working for ITC. Rosemary is extremely well versed on the routes available to Legal Executives and non-law graduates to qualify as solicitors, and is always happy to spend time discussing course options with prospective students.