Travers Smith is encouraging staff to use ‘safe-words’ to call out inappropriate language in the office.

Women make up all of the latest round of partner promotions at leading corporate firm Travers Smith. 

Elite corporate firm Travers Smith has become the latest big firm to announce that it is embracing flexible working.

Corporate law firm Travers Smith is partnering with a LGBT charity to develop a mentoring programme designed to empower a new, diverse generation of lawyers. 

The Treasury Solicitor’s department has become the first government department to commit to the Law Society diversity charter, making it the 400th signatory to date.

Let’s break down the top stories that made headlines in 2023 and consider what you should look out for in 2024.

Commercial awareness is a vital skill for trainee solicitors. For candidates applying for vacation schemes and training contracts, becoming commercially aware involves building an understanding of how law firms and their clients work as businesses and how the wider world impacts them. This concise guide rounds up a range of key commercial stories and talking points from 2021.

Commercial awareness is a vital skill for all lawyers. For candidates applying for vacation schemes and training contracts, becoming commercially aware involves building an understanding of how law firms and their clients work as businesses, and how the wider world impacts them. This guide rounds up a range of commercial stories and talking points from 2022.

Let’s break down the top stories that made headlines in 2024 and consider what you should look out for in 2025. Commercial awareness is a vital skill for all lawyers. For candidates applying for vacation schemes and training contracts, becoming commercially aware involves building an understanding of how law firms and their clients work as businesses, and how the wider world impacts them. This guide rounds up a range of commercial stories and talking points and considers their impact on the year ahead. 

How does litigation work in practice?

While you may be breathing a sigh of relief that the biggest vacation scheme deadline of the year has now passed, there is no time to rest on your laurels when it comes to improving your commercial awareness – if you get invited to interview, you need to have a few aces up your sleeve. The best place to start is by keeping an eye on the big business stories of the day – a task that we are only too happy to help with.

Gordons LLP, based in Yorkshire, has welcomed three new apprentices to train with the firm.

Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells have made it into the Times' Top 50 Employers for Women list.

As reported in Legal Futures, a best practice code aimed at preventing the biased granting of internships and improving social mobility for underprivileged students has received backing from the Legal Serves Board, Law Society and Bar Council.

What is the story behind patents in the real world?

With piracy on the rise, what is the role of shipping lawyers in combating the problems it causes?

Senior early talent advisor Beth Petch sets out what Trowers & Hamlins LLP wants to see in applications from strong candidates, discusses common mistakes she comes across, as well as what to expect during the vacation scheme and the firm’s solicitor apprenticeship programme. 

Experience, whether legal or not, is invaluable Ugo Ebhogiaye, an associate at Trowers & Hamlins LLP, tells us. Learn about Ugo’s time as a paralegal, her remote placement in Oman during the pandemic and what her role as chair of the firm’s Race Ethnicity and Heritage Network involves.

International law firm Trowers & Hamlins has announced that all 13 of its trainees who are set to qualify in March will be kept on as newly-qualified solicitors.

In a week in which MPs prepare themselves to vote again on the Brexit deal at the start of next month, and the Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled after a guest’s death, there have been plenty of noteworthy news stories to keep abreast of. For in-depth analysis of the latest legal and commercial issues, we would always recommend signing up to Lexology.