Law firms will often stress that their lawyers need to be 'commercially aware'. This phrase often causes confusion as it means different things to different people. However, in essence, it means that commercial lawyers deal with more than just the law.  

The Law Society’s annual Diversity Access Scheme is about to open for submissions, this year including 10 awards offering financial assistance and mentoring, plus one new award for a law centre worker that guarantees a training contract.

Thousands of lawyers are set to take part in this year’s London Legal Walk to fundraise for community legal advice services.

The Law Society has welcomed the removal of a five-year time limit on evidence of abuse from domestic violence victims. This rule has previously prevented victims from being able to obtain legal aid.

Co-operative Legal Services has announced that it is to enter the family law market, supported by three leading family law practitioners from TV Edwards LLP.

The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that lawyers cannot be "equated with journalists" to speak out on sensitive and high-profile cases.

The BBC is to continue its trainee solicitor recruitment programme following a successful first two years. 

Extended court sitting hours in the early mornings and evenings will be tested for the first time from 2 September, which marks the start of a six-month pilot scheme.

Magic circle firms Clifford Chance and Slaughter and May have said that they will not introduce legal apprenticeships to their recruitment and training models, while Freshfields may soon become the first magic circle firm to take on apprentices.

The backlog of crown court cases has increased by 3% on the previous quarter to 66,547, according to new figures published by the Ministry of Justice.

A new national award for law students, the Future Legal Mind award, has been launched by the National Accident Helpline.

The government is expected to announce this week that the limit for small claims cases will be doubled to £10,000, while the restrictions for county court cases will rise from £15,000 to £100,000 except for personal injury cases.

Solicitors’ and criminal barristers’ representative bodies have called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to use his large Conservative majority in Parliament to address problems in the justice system.

According to reports in The Lawyer and RollonFriday, the Law Central Applications Board will be replacing staggered LPC and GDL application dates with a single (as yet unknown) deadline.

A pupil barrister has won first prize in the Bar Council’s essay competition with a damning dissection of the legality of the UK government’s use of drones to kill people.

The London office of US firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP has launched a training contract programme and vacation scheme, with a view to its first trainees starting in September 2015.

The Law Society invites people to join the legal profession march at this year's Pride London parade on Saturday 2 July.