The new Level Four Higher Apprenticeship in Legal Services is now open for registration.

New alternative business structure entrants to the legal profession are winning a lot of business through major affinity and partnership deals with non-legal companies, a report has revealed.

The government should not abandon access to physical courts in its drive to digitise the justice system because of the impact it would have on the poorest in society, leading judges and academics have warned.

Co-operative Legal Services has announced that it will apply to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to become an alternative business structure on 3 January 2012.

A midlands firm, Talbots Law, has recruited nearly 100 staff to expand its business.

Leading regional firm Coffin Mew has completed its merger with Charles Lucas & Marshall. 

The aftershocks of Carillion’s collapse are still being felt a month on, not least by its former employees. Magic circle firm Clifford Chance has taken on Carillion’s in-house legal team, saving the jobs of around 60 specialist paralegals. 

Operation Early Dawn has been reintroduced to ease prison overcrowding in the north of England, following the sentencing of rioters who engaged in violent unrest across parts of the UK earlier this month. 

Twenty law firms and organisations have now been granted alternative business structure status, which allows legal services providers to be owned and/or managed by non-lawyers and operate in conjunction with other services.

The Co-operative Group's announcement of its intentions to create 3,000 jobs in the legal sector is the latest and clearest sign that alternative business structures are set to have a big impact on the legal profession.

City law firms are considering an additional requirement that candidates will need to gain some “City-specific” training on top of passing the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) when the new ‘super exam’ comes into effect.

The majority of courses are delivered in two stages. 

Who owns art – is it artists? Galleries? Governments? What happens when art is sold? What do governments do when an important piece of national heritage is ruined?

Will the final implementation of the Companies Act 2006 mean the law is now clearer and more accessible?

In recent years the four Inns of Court have dished out millions of pounds in awards.

I’d always wanted to pursue a career in the law, despite initially choosing to study English at university. After a year, I changed paths to study a law degree, even though it meant I had to complete my first year again.