We’ll keep it short this week as many of you are completing vacation scheme or pupillage applications. Commercial awareness is a key attribute that you must demonstrate in your applications as recruiters want to see that you have a knowledge of what is going on in the business industry, and how key issues might affect the law and the businesses that operate within it.

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.

Growing firm Fletchers Group appears to be going against the grain by moving towards the partnership model while other firms seem to be doing the opposite. 

MPs have called for employment tribunal fees to be “substantially” reduced after it was found that such fees have badly reduced the public’s access to justice since they were introduced. 

Two magic circle firms have broken ranks with their peers to include partners in their gender pay gap reporting.

With MPs embarked on a marathon, five-day debate about Theresa May’s Brexit deal with the EU ahead of a crucial vote on Tuesday on whether to accept the terms or not, the issue of Brexit is dominating the business sections more than ever.

London-based civil liberties, human rights and legal aid firm Hodge Jones & Allen (HJA) has become the first law firm to be entirely owned by its employees.

TLT LLP has set a new target to achieve 50% female representation at partner level by 2029 as it works towards becoming “one of the most progressive and diverse law firms in the UK”. 

Magic circle firm Linklaters has launched a new innovation podcast series, Linkubator, aimed at students who want to develop their understanding of how the legal sector is being transformed by innovation and emerging technologies.

London-based law firm Hodge Jones & Allen (HJA) has partnered with the charity Pathway, a homeless healthcare service, to provide legal assistance to homeless patients as they seek accommodation after being discharged from hospital. 

A new report from the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed the subject areas in which aspiring solicitors have excelled or struggled with in the Solicitors Qualifying Exam assessments.

Last week, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) welcomed the publication of the Bar Council’s Pupillage Gateway report.

Everyone knows that aspiring lawyers are not expected to be ready-made economists, but they should have a solid understanding of how the business world is moving and which stories are impacting the world more broadly.

The Solicitors Qualifying Exam has been granted final approval by the Legal Services Board, confirming that the new route to qualifying as a solicitor will be introduced in September 2021.

The government has proposed a further increase in court fees following a hike in March, but the Law Society has said the move amounts to a further curtailing of access to justice for members of the public and small businesses.

Global law firms Ropes & Gray and Sidley Austin have retained 100% of their trainees.

Law firm Chief Rod Waldie has outlined his expansion plans for Gateley Legal after a slowdown in the legal sector pay war meant Gateley’s salary to revenue ratio to returned to “normal” levels.  

Disparity in the justice system between outcomes for defendants who are BAME and defendants who are white is being compounded by a lack of data needed to analyse the problem, The Centre for Justice Foundation has reported. 

A new study, published by the Department for Education, found that of the occupations most exposed to AI, solicitors ranked 12th on the list when considering exposure to all AI applications and second for exposure to large language modelling.