BMA Law is a new independent law firm set up by the British Medical Association - the representative body of doctors and medical students - to provide legal advice to the health profession.

Launched at the start of September, the Law Society’s new three-year professional ethics programme and web hub have been designed to offer a “safe space” to help members to balance commitments to clients and wider society. 

The eighth annual LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards are underway, with nominations now being accepted for those law students and law schools undertaking great pro bono work.

The chairman of the Legal Services Board, David Edmonds, has indicated that a single regulator for solicitors and barristers could be created in the not-too-distant future.

A long weekend can mean a short attention span, but stay focused - here is a handful of news stories to get you thinking about the issues that affect commercial entities (and thus clients) every day.

As recent changes to the law move to reflect wider society's growing embracement of diversity and LGBT equality, more lawyers are making LGBT rights part of their practices.

The News of the World saga continues, with an announcement that Lord Justice Leveson will conduct the hacking inquiry in the Royal Courts of Justice.

Innovative UK top 20 firm DWF has launched in the French legal services market for the first time through a merger with boutique Paris firm Heenan Paris. 

Both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Government Legal Profession (GLP) offer pupillages leading to permanent roles with fixed salaries, holiday and sickness pay, pensions and all the usual employment protection rights.

Junior barristers are set to benefit from a new online toolkit which has been specifically for them by the Bar Council’s Young Barristers’ Committee. 

The first two people to have completed the Accutrainee programme have been taken on by the firms at which they trained.

The Modern Law Awards last week honoured the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Diane Burleigh OBE, for her lifetime of achievements in the legal profession.

The accountancy firm KPMG has recently been awarded an alternative business structure licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

BPP University College of Professional Studies became BPP University on 6 August 2013.

There is a bumper crop of interesting business stories this week, ready for you to read and digest.

The University of Law is the first university to be granted an Alternative Business Structure licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Access to Justice Foundation, which aids pro bono work, is running its third annual essay competition for law students

According to recent reports in The Lawyer, City firm Norton Rose saved millions of pounds and around 100 jobs last financial year thanks to a flexible-working programme and the outsourcing of 60 members of support staff.

Law firms are avoiding reporting the true extent of their gender pay gaps and regulations should be updated to force them to be transparent, Conservative MP Maria Miller has said.

Magic circle giant Allen & Overy has become the first law firm to join the government's new social mobility initiative which gets companies to offer internships to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.