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. 

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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%.

Law firms and barristers’ chambers need to improve the diversity of their workforces or face having quotas imposed on them, the Black Solicitors Network has said.

The bodies representing solicitors, barristers and chartered legal executives have pledged to “achieve gender equality in the senior ranks” by getting firms and chambers to sign up to specific gender targets.

A panel of 18 firms and chambers has been set up to provide free legal advice to athletes, coaches, team officials, national Olympic committees, national Paralympic committees and international federations at the 2012 Olympics.