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. 

In November 2021, 1090 candidates, including 27 solicitor apprentices, took the first-ever Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) – SQE1. The candidates received their results on Friday last week and the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed an overall pass rate of 53%. 

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. 

National law firm Browne Jacobson LLP has welcomed six work experience students who are part of the Law Society’s Diversity Access Scheme, as part of the firm’s efforts to improve access and diversity within the profession. 

The Law Society has expressed its ‘wide ranging’ concerns with remote juries in the justice system, including the “risk of alienating juries and/or witnesses.” These concerns follow civil court users having described remote hearings as “fragmented” and demanding improvements.

More than 370 CILEX professionals celebrated graduation at Central Hall Westminster in London on Saturday 6 November, which was held by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX).

MyKindaFuture will deliver a series of digital workshops across Autumn 2020 – with 23 law firms already signed up to host 25 two-hour workshops – to support students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue a career in the law.

Aspiring lawyers from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds will be supported by magic circle law firm Linklaters and Wadham College, University of Oxford as part of a newly launched social mobility programme.

An independent review of the criminal courts has highlighted that the “entire system needs funding”, according to The Law Society of England and Wales President Richard Atkinson.

Following the success of CityLawLIVE's first full-day conference, applications are now being accepted for the next event, to be held on Saturday 8 December in central London.

Since March, the UK has seen restrictions being lifted and the government’s four-step roadmap offering a route back to a more normal life. Although we are gearing slowly towards normality, there’s no denying the impact coronavirus has had on our lives and the legal profession. 

Queen Mary University of London has launched a three-day online course that will be offered by The Centre for Commercial Law Studies.

An innovative online barristers’ business offering a “reimagined” Bar without physical chambers has received £10 million in private equity investment.

Victim Support has launched a new website to help children and young people who are victims or witnesses of crime.

Women barristers, on average, earn nearly 50% less than their male counterparts, according to the Bar Standard Board’s (BSB) 2022 report on ‘Income at the Bar – by Gender and Ethnicity’.  

England and Wales have been hailed as the leading legal centre for arbitration and commercial dispute resolution, with English law governing trillions of pounds worth of international transactions and deals. 

Each year LawCareers.Net conducts a user survey to gather feedback on the tools available to those seeking a career in law and to assess the mood of those entering the profession.

It’s been another week of political upheaval with several MPs from the Labour and Conservative parties breaking away to form the new Independent Group. With just over a month until B-Day – the day Britain officially leaves the EU – and with nobody really sure what will happen afterwards, the business world is already facing the repercussions. More on that, and other issues, in this week's commercal news round-up.