Breaking into law can be tough, especially when you're just starting out. With so many talented candidates competing for attention, standing out among the sea of applicants can feel like an impossible task. It's crucial to make sure your application not only gets noticed but also leaves a lasting impression. In such a competitive field, you need to show what makes you unique, skilled and ready to tackle the challenges of the legal world.

From a young age, I knew that I wanted to attend university and pursue a career which was intellectual and challenging. However, messages that I had internalised – that my sexual orientation was ‘bad’ – and a vast lack of LGBTQ+ role models were barriers. My only lesbian ‘role models’ were celebrities, and as a result, I had a hard time imagining how ‘someone like me’ could achieve highly in the career path that I desired.

The government's legal aid cuts have been condemned in an open letter signed by over 100 judges, lawyers, victims and peers who feel that the issue of legal aid has not been raised enough in the run up to the general election.

There are a lot of sources of information surrounding legal aid and the benefits it has in the legal system. However, universities often don't promote its importance within today's society.

Plans to cut legal aid spending by introducing price competitive tendering have been abandoned, justice secretary Chris Grayling has revealed in an interview in the Times newspaper.

The Junior Lawyers Division has expressed concern that the proposed cuts to legal aid will make a career as a legal aid lawyer a viable option only for those with the financial backing to support themselves.

The government has U-turned on its decision to deny legal aid to unaccompanied migrant children following a judicial review brought by The Children’s Society.

On 15 March 2022, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab announced long-awaited plans to reform the legal aid system.

In a joint letter to the lord chancellor, legal aid providers have warned that the immigration legal aid system requires systemic change. 

The Ministry of Justice’s approach to cutting legal aid has been criticised by one of its own consultants.

Legal Aid Minister Shailesh Vara has told the All Party Parliamentary Group on Legal and Constitutional Affairs that the planned £220 million legal aid cuts will not reduce the quality of lawyers operating in the field.

The Law Society has issued guidance to legal aid solicitors who specialise in criminal law reminding them that they can exercise their discretion when deciding to accept cases if “the work threatens the viability of their firm”.

Legal aid lawyers have been called a “dying breed” after research by the Junior Lawyers Division found that only 4% of young lawyers are interested in working in legal aid.

The Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2015, run by the Legal Aid Practitioners Group have been launched.

Legal aid firms are being urged to claim a potential £100 million in unbilled fees as they try to weather the effects of the coronavirus crisis, a minister reported in early May.

The government has proposed raising civil legal aid fees for the first time in 30 years. While this has been welcomed by the Bar Council and the Law Society, both organisations are concerned that the changes don’t go far enough to match the rise in consumer price index).

During a particularly difficult business law seminar one day, a peer of mine sat next to me, engrossed in his laptop. It wasn't that seminar's corporation tax calculation that had captured his attention, but, instead, the Law Society's legal aid desert maps, which he was exploring on its website – and to which he introduced me.

Lord Neuberger, president of the UK Supreme Court, has said in an interview with the BBC that legal aid cuts could make people feel they cannot access justice and then "take the law into their own hands".

Cuts to legal aid funding have ensured that employers can get away with discrimination toward their employees, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission has warned.