Commercial awareness is a vital skill for trainee solicitors. For candidates applying for vacation schemes and training contracts, becoming commercially aware involves building an understanding of how law firms and their clients work as businesses, as well as how they are impacted by the wider world. This guide rounds up a range of key commercial stories and talking points from 2020.

The Law Society is asking its members to participate in an online discussion on education and training.

Pro bono organisation LawWorks has announced that nominations are open for its annual LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards.

Clifford Chance has raised its newly qualified (NQ) lawyer salaries to £107,500 – a 7% increase from £100,000 – as the NQ lawyer pay war continues. 

The key to becoming a successful lawyer is understanding how your law firm and the legal industry operate and make money. As an aspiring lawyer, you can demonstrate your commercial awareness to graduate recruiters throughout the application process.

The Law Society’s annual statistics report 2020 offers a snapshot of the profession in the 12 months to 31 July 2020, with women outnumbering men plus concerns regarding ethnicity reporting and monitoring as most newly qualified solicitors do not disclose “their ethnic origin on the mySRA website”. 

The billable hour remains the standard method of charging clients in the legal profession, despite predictions that the model could be under threat due to the rise of AI. As partners at leading UK-based law firms now charge £1,500 per hour, while their counterparts at US firms have hourly rates as high as $2,000, there’s little incentive to move away from the traditional model.

Both The College of Law and Kaplan Law School have published figures on how many of their 2010 LPC graduates had secured employment in the legal profession.

LawWorks has announced the appointment of its new chief executive, Martin Barnes.

Fee income among law firms has undergone steady growth despite the austere economic climate, according to research by the Law Society's Law Management Section.

The government is considering whether to appeal a High Court judgment that controversial cuts to criminal legal aid are unlawful.

Junior lawyers, with support from the Law Society, have announced that they will focus once again on the campaign for a minimum trainee salary.

To coincide with Black History Month, the Law Society is holding a series of events at Chancery Lane in celebration of the achievements of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) lawyers.

The legal healthcare charity LawCare’s review of 2012 has reported that stress issues continue to be the most frequent reason that lawyers call its helpline.

Nottingham Law School is launching an LLM in international energy, designed to prepare students for careers in the petrol and mining industries.

BPP Law School in Leeds has been nominated in two categories in the LawWorks Pro Bono Awards, due to be held on 11 June 2014.

Following criticism from solicitors and the justice secretary, the Law Society has withdrawn its guidance to solicitors on how to legally prepare wills so that they obey Sharia succession rules.

Nottingham Law School has applied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for an alternative business structure licence, which would allow the school’s students to become part of a "teaching law firm".

Organised around the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta in 2015, a new scheme has been launched by Lord Dyson to send young solicitors and barristers into schools and encourage students to pursue a career in law.

Justice secretary Chris Grayling has lauded the UK legal profession and the value of City law firms to the country's economy.