Browne Jacobson LLP recently launched its innovative mentoring programme REACH (Race, Equality and Cultural Heritage), which is aimed at aspiring Black lawyers.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s detailed approach to financial penalties has come under fire from the Law Society. In particular, the penalties to link new fining powers to firms’ and individuals’ income have been deemed “unclear and unreliable”.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) published proposals as part of a consultation to redirect interest earned on lawyers’ client accounts into the MOJ’s budget. Law Society of England and Wales President Mark Evans criticised the plan, stating: "Firms will close, fees will rise and clients will be impacted if the MoJ goes ahead with the proposal.”

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

The justice secretary, Michael Gove, has said that rich lawyers and firms should do more to make justice available for all following the removal of access to justice for most of the public by his government’s legal aid cuts.

The Law Society is in support of a five-point pathway of tangible steps to boost social mobility and break the City’s ‘class ceiling’ following a report from the City’s Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce.

The body overseeing legal aid decisions in England and Wales is being taken to court by human rights organisation Liberty over its refusal to help homeless people challenge potentially unlawful treatment by local councils.

Thousands of high street and sole practitioner firms are likely to close within six months due to the covid-19 crisis, according to new Law Society research.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is demanding that law firms adhere to transparency rules and display the SRA digital badge on their websites.

Half of working mothers in the legal profession are taking on more childcare responsibilities than their partners during the UK’s lockdown, a survey conducted by the team behind the First 100 Years Project reports.

Lawyers on Demand (LOD) has launched a unique Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) training programme designed to develop the skills required for in-house legal work and broaden access to the profession. 

People who attended state schools are still underrepresented in the legal profession, with criminal firms employing the highest proportion of state-educated solicitors and corporate firms the lowest, research by the Solicitors Regulation Authority reveals.

Across England and Wales more than half a million people are unable to access legal aid in the housing and community care sectors, according to campaigners. Without access to legal help advice, many areas are left in a so-called ‘advice desert’.

Following the Domestic Abuse Bill’s second reading in the House of Commons last week, the Law Society says the bill must do more to protect victims. It recently passed a significant stage in its path to becoming law and will now be examined by the public bill committee.

Baker McKenzie has become the latest firm to reinstate newly qualified (NQ) lawyers’ salaries to pre-pandemic levels, after a reduction of 3% last June. Meanwhile, Irwin Mitchell is expecting to open its 15 offices at 50% capacity from 21 June.