National law firm Foot Anstey LLP has expanded it parental leave policy to include six months full parental leave to employees of all genders – “a vital step towards achieving greater equality in caregiving responsibilities”.

Beyond Compliance Limited and Clerksroom launched an anonymous survey last month, which aims to acquire details from prospective pupils regarding their experiences, and offer them the chance to share their thoughts on the training and qualifying processes at the Bar, as well as the current challenges surrounding pupillage. 

Metro Bank has become one of the first in-house legal teams in the financial services sector to support aspiring solicitors through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination on their way to qualification.

Wigs have been worn by the legal profession in court since the late 17th Century as barristers were viewed as being part of the middle-class society.

The Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) discussions about reforming barrister training should be made more urgent by its latest statistics report, which shows that over 60% of those who complete the prohibitively expensive Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) never go on to secure pupillage.

Disruptive technologies are becoming increasingly prevalent in our lives and the law. The introduction of AI into society has led the Government to release a much anticipated white paper addressing AI on 29 March 2023, ‘AI Regulation: A Pro-Innovation Approach’, which outlines the UK Government’s proposals to regulate AI.

A-level students are not the only ones poring over results and figures today to see what that means for them. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that consumers’ retail spending rose 1.4% in July following the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, a much higher increase than economists predicted.

In its report on judicial appointments, the House of Lords Constitution Committee has found that a more diverse judiciary would increase public trust and confidence in the country's justice system.

This week’s best economic news is that the year-long squeeze on wages is nearing an end, at least according to the Office of National Statistics, which has released figures showing that people’s pay is now catching up to inflation. However, reports from elsewhere in the world show that the global economic situation remains precarious.

Clifford Chance and Irwin Mitchell are the latest firms to reveal their gender and ethnicity pay gap figures, with both reporting a decreased gap compared to previous years.

The senior presiding judge for England and Wales, Lord Justice Edis, has delayed the sentencing of convicted criminals on bail due to overpopulation in prisons. As a longer term solution, the government plans to send prisoners overseas and build more prisons.

After five months of strikes, criminal barristers in England and Wales voted to end strike action on Monday 10 October, accepting a government pay rise of 15% on legal aid fees.

Training to become a barrister is incredibly expensive, but thankfully the Inns of Court offer scholarships to students to assist with some of the associated costs.

It’s been another week of political upheaval with several MPs from the Labour and Conservative parties breaking away to form the new Independent Group. With just over a month until B-Day – the day Britain officially leaves the EU – and with nobody really sure what will happen afterwards, the business world is already facing the repercussions. More on that, and other issues, in this week's commercal news round-up.

What effect will electronic evidence have on the way litigation is resolved?

The summer is a great time to get into a good routine of keeping up with the latest business developments. Our weekly commercial news round-ups do the hard part for you, summarising interesting and relevant news stories from the week. The rest of the research and analysis is up to you!