Read this week’s commercial news round-up for some of the latest news relating to the business and legal worlds.

After the housing crash, will the courts ease lenders' pain?

It’s been a difficult few weeks watching the surge of violence engulf Afghanistan and take many lives, including judges and lawyers. As an aspiring lawyer, part of your job is to be able to watch or read a piece of news that causes distress and analyse the following key factors.

It’s hard to keep on top of everything, which is why we summarise the most important and interesting commercial news stories every week. The below stories can be taken at face value, or used as starting points to jump into further research. How could Germany’s economy affect the legal as well as the business world? Where could law firms have been involved in Eat and Patisserie Valerie’s sales? It’s up to you to find out!

In a week in which MPs prepare themselves to vote again on the Brexit deal at the start of next month, and the Jeremy Kyle Show was cancelled after a guest’s death, there have been plenty of noteworthy news stories to keep abreast of. For in-depth analysis of the latest legal and commercial issues, we would always recommend signing up to Lexology. 

Solicitors and barristers who are considered key workers will be eligible for covid-19 testing, it has been revealed.

The University of Law has secured an exclusive partnership with magic circle law firm Clifford Chance to deliver its Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) courses. 

A-level students are not the only ones poring over results and figures today to see what that means for them. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that consumers’ retail spending rose 1.4% in July following the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, a much higher increase than economists predicted.

The senior presiding judge for England and Wales, Lord Justice Edis, has delayed the sentencing of convicted criminals on bail due to overpopulation in prisons. As a longer term solution, the government plans to send prisoners overseas and build more prisons.

England and Wales have been hailed as the leading legal centre for arbitration and commercial dispute resolution, with English law governing trillions of pounds worth of international transactions and deals. 

Travers Smith LLP and Linklaters LLP both launch new AI training programmes to boost employee understanding, improve the expertise of their lawyers and keep up with the fast-paced nature of the evolving technology space. 

The Law Society is the independent professional body for solicitors in England and Wales. We’re run by and for our members. 

We’ll keep it short and sweet this week and let you know that the below news stories are essential reading for anyone heading off to a law firm assessment centre or interview soon, or for those just looking to top up their commercial awareness over the summer months.

With the summer holidays in full swing for university students, and just beginning for those younger would-be lawyers, now is the perfect time to consider how to spend some time building the foundations for your future career. Alongside all your staycations, of course!

Injury law experts National Accident Helpline has reopened its annual law competition, Future Legal Mind, for the ninth consecutive year. The competition, open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, is one of the leading law essay competitions in the UK.

Mass surveillance of the public by the government’s intelligence agency, GCHQ, was illegal under European law, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled in what rights and transparency campaigners have hailed as an important victory for privacy and freedom.

If you fancy boosting your commercial awareness, don’t forget that applications are still open for our student careers conferences LawCareersNetLIVE.

Hooray! You made it through the initial culling post-application form submission and maybe even the psychometric testing too. Up next is the video interview. This is the first time the firm will actually see your face! Here are my three top tips on how to tackle this tricky stage.

As we head into the autumn term, one of the best things you can do to prepare for the incoming milkround season is to get into good habits when it comes to commercial awareness. Reading our weekly summaries of the latest business news stories is an efficient way to keep up with the commercial world.

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has revealed that barristers are more reluctant than solicitors to adopt new technology, according to its latest Technology and Innovation at the Bar report.