In this post, I'll be diverging slightly from law-specific content to focus on what I imagine is a pretty relatable obstacle for everyone – the upcoming exam season. Whether you're completing your GCSEs, A levels or your university exams. For those of us who are still in education, this is undeniably the time to – as Troy Bolton from High School Musical puts it – “get your head in the game”.

UK commercial firm TLT has agreed that The University of Law will be its exclusive training provider of the LPC, GDL and Professional Skills Course, having been impressed with private university’s preparations for the upcoming Solicitors Qualifying Exam.

Partner Kay Hobbs heads up TLT’s corporate clean energy team in Bristol. She shares her career journey and offers useful advice to trainees and future lawyers about building a legal career.

Diversity, equal opportunity and the end of the ‘old boys network’ remain a long way off in the legal profession, a study by the Sutton Trust and PRIME showing that three quarters of judges and 71% of Queen’s Counsel (QC) barristers were privately educated has revealed. 

Top up your commercial awareness with this week’s commercial news round-up.

Why should businesses register a trademark?

US trade sanctions: should non-US reinsurers be running scared?

Summer is the time when most firms invite training contract applications. Here is LawCareers.Net’s guide to the process, from preparing your applications to the final interview.

Many law firms use assessment centres as part of the selection process for vacation scheme and training contract candidates. So how do you prepare for an assessment centre, what can you expect on the day and what are firms looking for? Read on for LawCareers.Net’s expert advice.

A training contract, or qualifying work experience (QWE), is a two-year period spent working at a law firm or other organisation that employs solicitors. It’s one of the stages required to qualify as a solicitor.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has apologised for creating "confusion" over the number of training contracts there were in 2014.

AI is everywhere these days, and the legal profession is no exception. While tools like ChatGPT may be all the rage for the general public, the legal world has quietly been integrating AI into its operations for years. But in recent times, interest has hit an all-time high.

The transition from sixth form to university, especially at the height of the pandemic, was quite challenging (for context, I attended an international school outside the UK).

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

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.

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