The new Solicitors Qualifying Exam that all candidates will have to pass to become solicitors will not be introduced until 2021, while fees to take the assessment could range from £3,000 up to £4,500, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has revealed.

The lord chancellor has announced that criminal legal aid solicitors working in police stations and youth courts are due to receive a pay increase to reflect the “critical role” they play in “ensuring access to justice”. 

The Legal Services Board has released its 2025/26 business plan and its budget for the year, which increased by 11% from 2024/5 to £5.873 million.

The first group legal aid trainees to have been sponsored through their training contracts by the Legal Education Foundation’s Justice First Fellowship have qualified as solicitors. 

Tottenham MP David Lammy has criticised members of the government for wrongly insisting that a lack of diversity among judges is due to a shortage of suitable black and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates.

Deloitte Legal has entered a strategic partnership with legal AI platform Legora in the UK to accelerate the transformation of legal services. The collaboration, announced on 8 September, aims to reshape how legal teams operate by implementing AI-driven solutions that go beyond task-based productivity gains and into full-service redesign.  

Student volunteers in Bristol have overturned 95% of the decisions made by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in their area regarding 200 claimants who had wrongfully been ruled ‘fit for work’.

The Law Society of England and Wales has expressed its support for the House of Commons Justice Committee’s call for urgent reform, following its recent report, which stated that the county court needs “urgent attention”.

International law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has announced the introduction of three new social mobility benefits for trainee hires and vacation scheme students in response to the rising cost of living and inflation. 

The government’s attempt to introduce a discriminatory residence test for legal aid claimants, which sought to limit the availability of services for people born outside the United Kingdom, but living here for "one year or more", has been unanimously thrown out by the Supreme Court.

Nineteen leading law firms have signed up to ‘the social mobility pledge’, an initiative aimed at tackling the depressing lack of upward social mobility in British society.

The Next 100 Years has launched an annual lecture series, Heilbron Lectures, named after Rose Heilbron QC – the first female senior judge and joint first female Queen’s Counsel (QC). The series of annual lectures will promote rising female legal experts and balance out the current male-dominated lecture format.

The president of the Supreme Court and the chair of the Bar have both warned that cuts to legal aid must be reversed to some extent if the justice system is to function properly and the public are to be able to access their legal rights. 

Amid the building excitement around Halloween, don’t get so entirely caught up with how to be the most convincing zombie at the party that you forget what October is really all about – preparing to meet future employers at law fairs and wow them with your commerciality. To keep you on track, cast a (cycloptic) eye over this collection of (not very) ghoulish stories.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has announced a firm-wide rollout of Legora’s AI platform for legal professionals across its 43 offices in 29 countries. The strategic partnership will see the firm make the most of Legora’s capabilities and solutions to enhance legal workflows and support complex matters across its global practices.

The College of Law has announced 100 new awards of up to £3,000 toward course fees for students with top academic credentials.

Law firms will be required to publish set fees for legal services including wills, conveyancing and divorce under new Solicitors Regulation Authority proposals.