LawCareers.Net

Global law firm Dentons launched an open access virtual work experience programme – the ‘Experience Dentons’ – earlier this week, with all students over 16-years-old eligible to take part.

As we approach the big training contract deadline this weekend, now is the perfect time to sharpen your commercial acumen. Have a flick through some of the biggest news from this week to find out whether cannabis will become part of our future and if the UK economy will bounce back.

A study analysing cases before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) over two decades, has explored whether women make more ethical lawyers than their male counterparts.

Candidates undergoing qualifying work experience (QWE) must be paid the same as those completing a training contract, the Law Society has recommended.

Last year LawCareers.Net reported that 17  law firms had joined the pledge to combat career obstacles faced by minority ethnic lawyers, in partnership with Rare Recruitment. 

Aspiring lawyers can now register as a Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) candidate after the Solicitors Regulation Authority opened candidate registration on 6 July 2021.

Barristers from ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely than their white counterparts to have complaints raised against them by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), according to a study by the regulator. 

The University of Law has secured an exclusive partnership with magic circle law firm Clifford Chance to deliver its Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) courses. 

Aspiring lawyers from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds will be supported by magic circle law firm Linklaters and Wadham College, University of Oxford as part of a newly launched social mobility programme.

A statement posted on the Bar Council’s website highlights its support of trans, non-binary and gender-fluid individuals, and urges chambers to recognise that “some people are transgender and not everyone feels that their gender can be defined within the margins of gender binary.”

City law firm Kingsley Napley announced that its ‘BAME & Allies Network’ has changed its name to “the Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) group,” in a blog post on its website.

In February 2021, Bridging the Bar (BTB) and the supreme court joined forces to collaborate on a diversity scheme for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic candidates.

The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) has warned the government that work as a criminal legal aid lawyer no longer represents a viable career path, due to a desperate resource crisis in the sector that “threatens the stability of the entire system” at the cost of justice to the consumer.

Global disability network The Valuable 500 has reached its target to get 500 global businesses to add disability inclusion to their business leadership agenda, including several law firms.

Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has been awarded the annual Commendation for Diversity as judged by LawCareers.Net, Aspiring Solicitors and Rare.

The legal super-regulator is to use its powers to coordinate technological innovation in the sector, it has revealed. 

DWF has been named one of The Times Top 50 Employers For Women for the second consecutive year.

The University of Law (ULaw) has appointed Professor Zoe Radnor as its new deputy vice-chancellor to work alongside Professor Andrea Nollent, ULaw’s vice-chancellor and CEO to “develop and implement the university’s strategic plan” with a focus on delivering “high-quality, innovative academic teaching and developing excellence in applied research and thought leadership”.

The legal profession’s use of the ‘BAME’ label to group Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic lawyers has been criticised by chair of the Bar Council, Derek Sweeting QC.

International firm Kingsley Napley has adopted the Halo Code – which “explicitly protects employees who come to work with natural hair and protective hairstyles associated with their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities” – and has formally incorporated the code into its dress and appearance policy.