International law firm Reed Smith has joined forces with BPP Law School to launch a bespoke MA qualification, to be piloted in September 2012, which integrates the LPC with business learning.

Spark 21, the charity behind the First 100 Years project that works to celebrate, inform and inspire future generations of women lawyers, brought together leading women from the world of law and beyond at its annual conference on Wednesday.

Leicester-based Premier Property Lawyers (PPL) - one of the largest conveyancing firms in the country - has made history by becoming the first to register as an alternative business structure (ABS) after new rules came into force.

The Law Society City Legal Index, which tracks those deals that the top 50 UK law firms have been involved with, has released figures which show that the total number of deals decreased in the first half of 2015.

Changes sweeping the legal profession will mean that a third of the current top 300 UK firms will no longer exist by 2022 unless firms become more competitive and transparent on the price of services, a law firm finance expert has forecasted. 

Global law firm DWF has launched a work placement scheme for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates pursuing careers in law.

What better way to round off the week than with a few topical business news stories, collated with the intention of getting you to think about the broader commercial issues that law firms’ clients may be grappling with. No, no – you don’t have to thank us.

The Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates is unlawful and intended to undermine the fundamental principles of barristers' independence, the High Court has heard as the judicial review of QASA gets underway.

The Alternative Business Structure model has facilitated two more firsts for the profession with the granting of ABS licences by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to long-standing advocates of the new ownership approach, Knights Solicitors and Quindell Portfolio.

The College of Law and the International Bar Association have teamed up to offer four £2,500 scholarships to students on the CoL's LLM in international legal practice, which runs from September 2012.

Commerciality remains top of many recruiters’ list of ideal traits for their future trainees - where better to develop that skill than with a small collection of topical business news stories, designed to help you to start thinking like a lawyer.

Cameron and Carney were full of literary flourish this week, with metaphors that drew parallels with dashboards and apple barrels.

Commerciality and business nous: these are prized skills among lawyers and exactly the kind of thing that recruiters are looking for their trainees to possess.

Trainee and newly qualified solicitors think that firms should do more to provide training and support on stress at work, a survey by the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has revealed.  

In addition to legal knowledge, firms expect their lawyers to have commerciality and business nous – a failure to do so leaves clients unhappy and deals undone.

The first charity in the UK to provide legal aid to the social care sector has been launched in partnership with leading City law firms.

The Law Society has published its Annual Statistical Report for 2013, which has confirmed that the number of training contracts on offer has increased up to 5,302 following the decline of previous years.

Former competition lawyer Mia Forbes Pirie has been named UK Independent Mediator 2021 by Corporate International.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has approved alternative business structure licences for the AA and over-50s specialist Saga.