Can I access the government’s postgraduate student loan for the Postgraduate Diploma in Law (PGDL) and the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) preparation courses?

Representative bodies and legal academics have welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling which makes it clear that an act of parliament must authorise the government’s future triggering of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which will begin the process of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. 

Applications for the CILEX Foundation’s scholarship and bursary programme are due to close on Friday 29 July. 

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has officially confirmed its shake-up of the route to becoming a solicitor with a new ‘super exam’ which all prospective solicitors will have to pass in order to qualify. 

A large proportion (53%) of future barristers are Oxbridge graduates, according to new research by Chambers and Partners, which also found that only 11% of pupils come from non-Russell Group universities. 

Browne Jacobson LLP (alongside PwC) tops the UK’s Social Mobility Employer Index for the third time, with magic circle law firms Slaughter and May, Linklaters LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP also featuring in this year’s top 10. 

Linklaters is running a commercial awareness event on 4 December as part of its LinkUpEatUp campaign, which is designed to enhance participants’ understanding of the work of a leading global law firm.

From later this month, City Law School's LPC and BPTC students can get involved with a new clinic run in partnership with human rights organisation Liberty.

Insurance super firm Plexus Law has launched its own apprenticeship, which incorporates a government-backed scheme, with the first intake set to start in September 2013.

A significant rise in the number of students training to be barristers has been predicted, with the Bar Standards Board (BSB) expecting to collect almost £100,000 more in examination fees in 2020 than in 2019.

Solicitors’ firms and barristers’ chambers should reserve a proportion of training contracts and pupillages for candidates with disabilities in order to counterbalance the discrimination against disabilities pervading the legal profession, according to a new report.

Two more leading law firms have announced partnerships with Vantage, the online portal that matches diverse candidates with opportunities at top legal employers.

International law firm Norton Rose Fulbright is running a competition alongside Harlequins rugby club, offering the prizes of a week of work experience at Norton Rose Fulbright’s London office, as well as a trip to the Stoop, the home of Harlequins.

European law firm Fieldfisher has launched a two-week legal work experience programme aimed at candidates who are from underrepresented backgrounds in the legal profession. 

Irish firms Matheson and Arthur Cox have been named among Europe’s most innovative law firms in the Financial Times’ (FT) Innovative Lawyers 20 Years Report, which was launched on 24 June at the FT’s Innovative Lawyers Global Summit.

The limited information published about the recent Solicitors Qualifying Exam stage one pilot means that it is “impossible” to tell whether the new ‘super exam’ will work as intended, the Association of Law Teachers has warned.

Global law firm Clyde & Co is introducing a six-month trainee seat in its in-house data lab from March 2020.