Solicitors’ firms across the legal profession are making use of the government’s employee furlough scheme as they look to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed that apprentices are achieving top performance levels across the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE), averaging scores that are 8% higher than other candidates on SQE1 and SQE2.  

A recent survey of working hours reveals that trainees and junior lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis LLP work on average for more than 14-hours a day. This is the third year in a row the firm has sat at the top of the table for working hours.

The Social Mobility Foundation revealed its top 75 UK employers for social mobility earlier in the week, with law firms making up 30% of the listed employers.

The gender pay gap for partners and employees at Freshfields has reduced to 57.2% according to figures published at the end of March 2020.

Fifteen law firms and other legal sector organisations have made this year’s list of the top 100 LGBT-inclusive employers, compiled by charity Stonewall.

Baker McKenzie has become the latest firm to reinstate newly qualified (NQ) lawyers’ salaries to pre-pandemic levels, after a reduction of 3% last June. Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell is expecting to open its 15 offices at 50% capacity from 21 June. 

Pinsent Masons has been named the UK’s most inclusive employer by LGBT-rights charity Stonewall, while Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and Baker McKenzie are the other law firms to rank in the top 10 in Stonewall’s top 100 employers index for 2019.

Over 60 law firms have this year’s Guardian UK 300, which lists the best UK employers for people seeking their first graduate jobs. 

Many firms offer to pay their future trainees’ GDL and LPC fees, if they have been recruited while an undergraduate. 

A recent study has revealed that 37% of legal professionals worked on their days off last year, a figure predicted to rise to 50% in 2023.  

Global disability network The Valuable 500 has reached its target to get 500 global businesses to add disability inclusion to their business leadership agenda, including several law firms.

Two leading City firms have delayed partner promotions due to pandemic pressures.

Ashurst has delayed partner promotions until later this year due to “continuing market uncertainty”. 

Global law firm Mayer Brown International LLP has revealed plans to split its Hong Kong and Chinese operations from the rest of its international network, making it the latest firm to consider its presence in China amid tensions with the US and weakness in the Chinese market. 

Law firms need to introduce quotas to make the representation of women at partner and management level more equal after “years of talking” about diversity have failed to effect real change, the founder of The First 100 Years project has said.

Mid-tier law firms Simmons & Simmons LLP, RPC and Shoosmiths have launched new policies to reward lawyers for billing higher hours, with bonuses of up to 40% of base salary on offer. 

The British Inter-University Commercial Awareness Competition (BIUCAC) is running for the third time this year, sponsored by over 20 City law firms.

Candidates from working class backgrounds are being locked out of the legal profession, says Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Foundation and a former cabinet minister.