The Bar is considering whether to scrap a student aptitude test that removes fewer than 1% of candidates, after deciding that it is “not operating as an effective filter”.

Despite the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s withdrawal from the Voluntary Code to Good Practice in the Recruitment of Trainee Solicitors, it has been announced that the code will continue to be upheld by its other signatories.

Trainee solicitors’ average pay has decreased since the Solicitors Regulation Authority abolished its minimum salary rule, while the change has disproportionately affected BAME lawyers, the trainee gender pay gap has widened and social mobility has reduced, a survey has revealed.

As you’ll learn, being a good lawyer is so much more than advising on legal technicalities – it is understanding and absorbing what drives your client and then helping them with practical solutions that resonate with their unique set of business concerns and constraints. Want to know what some of those things might be? Read on.

City law firm Kingsley Napley LLP has announced a new enhanced ‘Time-off for Dependents’ policy, which surpasses the UK’s statutory obligations.

This weekly round-up is designed to help you develop your commercial awareness by being informed about the issues affecting the world of law and business. Let’s get started.

Full-service law firm Shakespeare Martineau LLP has welcomed 11 new trainees, as part of its largest ever cohort. 

How have recent developments, such as in Merricks, changed the future landscape of opt-out collective proceedings?

Is continuing financial support for 'zombie' companies good or bad for the economy?

Has the tide begun to turn on offshoring?

How does the example of the Sainsbury’s takeover of Argos demonstrate the two different types of UK M&A deal and the importance of lawyers being commercially savvy?

Solicitors have recently reported a rise in legal battles over incapacity as dementia cases rise. Disputes centre around inheritance and “who should actually have control of someone who hasn’t got capacity”. 

Any government decision to impose further increases to civil court fees would result in far more money lost in tax revenues generated by legal work than would be raised by court fees, according to City solicitors and barristers. 

Time to really get to grips with what firms are looking for from their future trainees – we published this feature recently, and among the long list of attributes, commercial awareness is pivotal. It is essential that you take an interest in the world around you and particularly the way in which the law and business sectors intersect. For this week’s selection of topical stories, read on.

CMS has launched a two-year non-law graduate training programme called the Business Development & Marketing Graduate Programme, which will take on four candidates at the firm’s London office.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has fined eight law firms for breaching transparency rules and one firm for failing to publish diversity data. 

A survey by Bolt Burdon Kemp revealed that 46% of the British public did not understand the legal aid system or how they can get legal support and 51% said there were too many barriers to legal aid funding.

For the past 18 months, members of the Crown Prosecution Service, police chiefs, lawyers, the Ministry of Justice, and the HM Prison and Probation Service formed a working party to update guidelines for judges in what’s been labelled a “change in culture”. The guidelines were rolled out from 16 January.