Summer is here! Not that you’d know it to look outside. Console yourself in the face of gloomy weather with this selection of interesting business-related news from the past week.

Norton Rose Fulbright has announced its partnership with the Financial and Legal Skills Partnership through the 'Get In Get On' initiative.

Employment in London's legal services sector is growing faster than any other financial or professional services industry, according to figures released by lobby group TheCityUK.

In a significant development in the world of legal aid, Justice Minister Ken Clarke announced last week that he has postponed major reforms to the legal aid system that were due to be implemented in October 2012.

Paralegal work’s reputation for being a dead end to career advancement may soon be put to bed, as plans to implement formal qualifications and training opportunities for an advanced paralegal apprenticeship accelerate.

A short week means a short round-up, but still packed with interesting (albeit uniformly depressing) news.

The majority of Manchester-based firm Pannone's business has been acquired by Australian firm Slater & Gordon for a total of £33 million, it has been announced.

With Pupillage Gateway now open for applicants to browse pupillage vacancies, Bar students are busy completing application forms and researching different sets.

Justice Secretary Robert Buckland has contradicted suggestions from the top levels of the government that judges are politically biased and not truly independent.

US firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP and global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright have both raised the salaries for their newly qualified (NQ) solicitors in London to £170,000 and £135,000, respectively. 

What with Brexit and Trump v Clinton, there is a lot of juicy news to fill newspaper columns at the moment.

Want to know what’s been happening in the business world that might be of interest to your future clients? Look no further than this collection of interesting business stories.

As predicted, the SRA has announced that the minimum salary for trainees will remain frozen at 2009 levels.

Becoming a barrister gives you the chance to embark on one of the most stimulating, varied and exciting careers that there is.

Leading national firm Penningtons Manches and shipping specialist Thomas Cooper have agreed to merge, the firms have announced.

More fallout from the leaked Panama Papers this week, as businesses and individuals scramble to distance themselves from the scandal (Bill Gates has said he’s more surprised by who’s NOT on the list). 

Slaughter and May is the first magic circle firm to announce its 2020 partner promotions, with eight new partners appointed – two of whom are women.

Plans for a new ‘super exam’ for all qualifying solicitors have been approved by the Legal Services Board, meaning that the Solicitors Qualifying Exam is now certain to go ahead in some form.

Following on from its stage one pilot of the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is looking for candidates to take part in a trial run of SQE stage two in December.