White & Case LLP recently published a 100% retention rate for its trainees who are due to qualify in September, bringing the firm’s overall retention rate for 2024 to 87%.

Fee income among law firms has undergone steady growth despite the austere economic climate, according to research by the Law Society's Law Management Section.

The Voluntary Code of Practice for the Recruitment of Trainee Solicitors has been changed to allow firms to recruit trainees from the second year of university onwards. 

The University of Law (ULaw) and leading law firm White & Case LLP have agreed an exclusive partnership, in which ULaw will deliver training and development to the firm’s future trainees to prepare them for the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) and legal practice. 

Law firms are now able to choose the regulator that is most appropriate for them following the establishment of ILEX Professional Standards as an alternative to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Law firms will be required to publish set fees for legal services including wills, conveyancing and divorce under new Solicitors Regulation Authority proposals.  

Law firms including Allen & Overy, Pinsent Masons and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner have increased the salaries for their newly qualified (NQ) lawyers in the UK in response to NQ salary surges in the US.

A survey run by the Law Society’s Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) found that nearly 80% of respondents had gained some unpaid legal work experience, but that fewer than half believed that their experiences had benefited their career prospects.

Aspiring Solicitors, launched in November 2013 by former Norton Rose Fulbright associate, Chris White, has recently gained support from a number of high-profile law firms.

Six more firms are now taking applications for training contracts and vacation schemes through Apply4Law:

A Rugby Union team's worth of firms – that's 15 for those averse to heads jammed in armpits – have opened applications for training contracts, vacation schemes and the odd open day through Apply4Law.

Three firms are now taking applications for training contracts and vacation schemes through the Apply4Law online application system, while a fourth – Kingsley Napley – has opened applications for training contracts only.

Online application system provider Apply4Law reports that several of its client firms have opened their 2013 summer vacation scheme forms.

Staff at international disputes firm Hausfeld have been told they can work from home until at least the end of the year. This announcement comes after the practice acknowledged that many employees are not willing to commute into the office via public transport until there is a covid-19 vaccine. 

A number of firms' work placement schemes have been shortlisted for the annual National Council for Work Experience Awards.

Nabarro LLP, Simmons & Simmons and Slater & Gordon have been singled out for praise at the National Council for Work Experience Awards 2013, marking them out as some of the UK's best internship providers.

While a number of big firms have begun to recall furloughed staff as coronavirus lockdown measures begin to ease, the year ahead remains uncertain for hundreds of solicitors.