Paralegals frustrated at the lack of regulation and oversight in their profession now face even greater uncertainty, after it has emerged that one of the two bodies which worked to set up a voluntary paralegal regulator has withdrawn its support after just two years. 

Kaplan and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have issued an apology after an error by Kaplan meant that 175 students were incorrectly told that they’d failed parts of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) assessments. 

More than 1,600 junior lawyers have signed an open letter criticising the world’s biggest law firms, which they claim haven’t made enough effort to combat President Donald Trump’s alleged “bullying” of lawyers and law firms. Signatories to the letter include hundreds of lawyers from some of the firms affected, including Covington, Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss and Wilmer Hale.

Slaughter and May is “delighted” to have partnered with the 93% Club, Boston Consulting Group, Ernst & Young and JLL to create a new professional network – 93% Professionals – designed to provide a supportive community for state-educated people and address the critical gap in the journey from education to a top career. 

As the Tory leadership contest sees the four candidates whittled down to the final two today, and tensions between the US and Iran escalate, there really is never a dull moment on Planet Earth. Draw your focus for five minutes to the business world and you’ll see that there are many places that politics, economics and the law intersect.

The Bach Commission has today published its report, The Right to Justice, including recommendations for a statutory right to justice, reforms to legal aid, and better public legal education. All three branches of the profession have responded to its publication, vociferously in support of its recommendations. 

The Law Society of England and Wales has embraced the UK’s adoption of the new Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer. This is a milestone in the legal world globally as it signifies the first international treaty with a focus on the safety of lawyers, which was adopted by the Council of Europe in response to increasing reports of attacks on the legal profession.

With the Bar Standards Board having to delay BPTC exams until August, concerns have arisen as to whether students will qualify in time to start pupillage in the autumn.

This week has been the tale of two mergers, with supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Asda still campaigning to convince the Competitions and Markets Authority that their planned merger will benefit customers. Meanwhile Disney has closed the deal on 21^st Century Fox for an eyewatering $71 billion, which will see franchises like Deadpool and X-Men coming over to the dark side to join Star Wars and Marvel.

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 University of Law is set to deliver the Legal Practice Course and LLM Legal Practice at the University of Southampton from September 2022.

The Legal Education Foundation (TLEF) is offering 19 trainee solicitor posts at leading social justice organisations across the UK, as part of its early 2022 Justice First Fellowship (JFF) scheme.

LawWorks and Deloitte Legal are inviting solicitors across the profession to participate in a new pro bono service to improve access to justice through technology.

Despite the majority of UK law firms experiencing a rise in revenue this year, a new 2023 benchmarking report from national audit, tax, advisory and risk firm Crowe found that this failed to turn into higher profits amid continued rising costs over the past year. 

Despite talking a good game on diversity issues, the legal profession needs to “be brave and walk our talk” by making diverse workplaces an individual responsibility, according to the findings of the Miranda Brawn Annual Diversity Leadership Conference hosted by The University of Law earlier in October. 

Gowling WLG (UK) LLP is proud to be a firm that supports everyone's individuality and promotes an inclusive environment. Inclusion allies were introduced to play a huge part towards this and supports our core value of “we all bring something different”.

As autumn knocks at the door, we’re sure that you’re all getting excited for crunchy leaves, pumpkin spiced lattes, and Chancellor Philip Hammond’s big reveal of the autumn budget (29 October, people, put it in your diaries!). Here at LCN the autumn term signifies the onset of traversing the country for law fair season.

Just as the media frenzy surrounding Andrew Marr's confession that he took out a superinjunction to supress news of an extramarital affair died down, another storm erupted over a premiership footballer's injunction to supress reports of his alleged extramarital affair with a reality TV star.