Legal training trailblazers Socrates join Unicorn Training Group
Unicorn Training has further expanded its field of expertise with the acquisition of the UK’s leading legal training trailblazers, Socrates.
Socrates is the latest company to become part of the Unicorn Training Group, with Unicorn’s strength in the financial services sector complimentary to Socrates’ expertise in compliance training work with law firms, accountants and estate agents.
Established in 2003 by Bernard George, a former litigation solicitor and director of operations at the College of Law London, Socrates has grown from helping legal firms deal with the challenges of money laundering compliance to supporting around 1,000 businesses with specialist governance, risk and compliance training.
Unicorn LMS has been recognised as the world’s best for the financial sector for the past three years, while it was also recently rated the UK’s top learning management system overall by the leading independent LMS experts, the Craig Weiss Group.
Now, with Bernard remaining at the Socrates helm, law firms, accountants and estate agents will be able to take advantage of Unicorn’s pioneering platform and content, in addition to the new services and courses Socrates continues to develop.
Peter Phillips, Unicorn CEO, said: “It is a real pleasure to welcome Bernard and Socrates to the Unicorn family. Given the commonality between financial services and law, the legal sector is a natural area for us to grow.
“Unicorn LMS provides the balance between the traditional need for firms to define, manage and report on core competencies, including a degree of central control, tracking, reporting, data security and an audit trail, while also satisfying learner appetite for more mobile, informal and collaborative microlearning opportunities.
“We are excited about bringing this world to Socrates’ subscribers, whilst enhancing what we already offer with this new and expert specialist content.”
Last summer, Socrates attracted nationwide publicity in winning a court case against the Law Society in which the Law Society was ruled to be abusing its dominance by forcing law firms to buy its own training products.
Bernard said: “Over the years a number of businesses have wanted to join forces with Socrates. But we were only prepared to do a deal with a partner that offered us the right resources for further growth and shared our values and vision. Crucially Unicorn also shares Socrates’ commitment to customer service and high standards.
“This partnership will enhance the way we deliver training to our subscribers. Our technology platform will be enhanced with new features, plus we will be able to provide a wider range of courses drawing on Unicorn’s impressive content portfolio. At the same time we continue to release new services we have developed, such as our brand new GDPR course and a forthcoming Risk Management product.”
Socrates now joins world class games and App company, Amuzo, as part of the Unicorn Training Group, while in May Unicorn opened a new Brighton office after recruiting five top eLearning professionals from Mind Click.
This year, Unicorn also struck strategic alliances with innovative workplace skills and compliance content developers, MicroLearn, and award-winning soft skills training providers, Video Arts, all of which Socrates subscribers can take advantage of.
Thanks to Smith & Williamson LLP, Southampton for acting as accounting and tax advisors to the transaction.
Explore Unicorn LMS at www.unicorntraining.com/lms, and try it out free via the Unicorn LMS registration page, or come and see Unicorn on Stand P14 at Learning Technologies 2018 at Olympia, London on 31 January – 1 February.