London firms have reacted to the proposed Brexit deal with “cautious optimism” despite lawyers advising business to prepare for the worst, as reported in the Law Gazette.

The College of Law, in collaboration with the City Solicitors’ Educational Trust, hosted a forum to investigate the best ways of promoting social mobility in the legal sector on 28 September.

The University of Law has been sold to Global University Systems by Montagu Private Equity, less than three years since it was first purchased.

Magic circle firm Slaughter and May has revealed that its trainees will be permitted to work from home one day a week, meaning 80% of their time will be spent in the office and 20% will be remote working.

City law firm Macfarlanes was the first non-magic circle firm to increase its newly qualified (NQ) lawyer salary in line with the ongoing NQ pay war. 

Diversity organisation Aspiring Solicitors has opened team registrations for its national commercial awareness competition 2017-18. 

City firms have lined up in support of diversity organisation Rare’s new ‘Vantage’ scheme, an online recruitment tool designed to help candidates from less-privileged backgrounds break through the artificial barriers holding them back from careers in law.

In a pilot LGBT mentoring scheme being launched in April by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, 10 large law firms have signed up to offer free help and advice to small and medium-sized firms on how to become more inclusive employers.

More than 80% of lawyers consider flexible working to be more important than salaries when job hunting, according to a recent report. 

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.

The five ‘magic circle’ firms have revealed their partner promotions for 2019, with women making up just 29% of this year’s promotions.

The social mobility scheme Pathways to Law is being widened to GCSE students, the Sutton Trust has announced. 

CMS will be offering 95 training contract places in the coming recruitment year, making it the second-highest training contract provider in the UK.

The successes of legal professionals and firms were recognised at the Law Society Excellence Awards, held earlier this month at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster.

Ropes & Gray’s newly-qualified solicitors will continue to earn a minimum of £130,000 this autumn, including the five trainees being retained who are qualifying in September 2020.

As universities plan to hike tuition fees, some firms are to review the financial assistance on offer to their future trainees.

Six leading law firms are set to attend the third annual OPEN event for disabled students who are interested in a career in commercial law.

Law firms across the country have released their trainee retention figures for September 2012.

The College of Law is in talks with the Singapore Institute of Legal Education to open a campus in Singapore later this year, in a move that will see the CoL become the first British law school to establish a campus in Asia.