Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has indicated in a letter to the chair of the Justice Select Committee that he would allow choice of solicitor to continue and would consider the Law Society's suggested alternative model to price competitive tendering.

Top 50 law firm Birketts LLP has announced it will merge with Batchelors Solicitors, a leading firm based in London and Kent.The merger is set to complete on the 31 March 2023 and is the latest step in Birketts’ growth trajectory.

The Law Society has launched its 2017-18 mentoring scheme, designed to support solicitors from under-represented groups to progress their careers and improve diversity within the profession.

As law firms navigate economic instability and embrace the rise of AI, there’s a fundamental shift in how clients evaluate their services and value.

The Direct Line Group has revealed its intention to branch into legal services, with an application for alternative business structure status set to be submitted before the new year.

BAME candidates are still much less likely to secure pupillage than white students, while those who attended fee-paying schools remain disproportionately represented, according to the latest annual report from the Bar Standards Board.

RPC has announced the expansion of its solicitor apprenticeship programme to London. The international law firm will start training solicitor apprentices in its London office from September 2025 with applications for the scheme now open.

Dame Ingrid Simler has become a justice of the UK Supreme Court, following Lord Kitchin’s retirement. Simler is the fifth woman to hold this role since 2009, when the court was set up in its current format, and was sworn in as a new justice of the UK Supreme Court last week. 

The UK’s legal technology sector attracted a record £188.8 million in investment last year, representing a 35% jump on the previous year, according to LawtechUK’s second Investment Snapshot.

The introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) should be delayed, according to leading law academics, because continuing uncertainty around the new system is making it impossible for students to make informed decisions about the choices available to them.

Taylor Wessing’s UK arm and international firm Winston & Strawn LLP have confirmed that they’re currently in merger discussions. If finalised, the merger could create the latest transatlantic force with over 1,300 lawyers and revenues of around $1.63 billion – placing this new firm within the top 40 in the Global 200.

Baker & McKenzie and Hogan Lovells are the first two firms to plan to integrate a new contextual recruitment tool in their online application systems, in time for the 2015-16 graduate recruitment season.

The government has given ground to striking barristers with an offer of £15 million to address the crisis in the criminal justice system.

The Pupillage Gateway has opened for browsing on 4 March.

Leading law firm Dentons has launched a new policy, developed in consultation with the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse, to provide support to any staff experiencing domestic abuse. The support was made available across the firm’s offices in the UK, Ireland and the Middle East.

Have the implications of the sham director scandal been exaggerated?

How do English courts decide the award of damages for loss of chance?

The King’s Counsel Appointments (KCA) have announced the names of 96 new silks – King’s Counsel (KCs). Despite the nine solicitors who applied this year, all successful applicants were barristers, reflecting the long-standing pattern that the KC cohort is overwhelmingly drawn from the Bar. Since solicitors first became eligible for KC status in 1995, only 66 have been appointed out of 231 applicants.

One of the most well-known figures in UK legal postgraduate education, Carl Lygo has announced that he is to relinquish his role as CEO of BPP Holdings and vice chancellor of BPP University.