The UK government is due to announce millions in extra funding for lawyers to represent asylum seekers in order to clear a backlog of appeals.

Plans to stop McKenzie Friends from being able to recover fees from members of the public following successful court action have received the support of the Law Society and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives.

Apprentices are being let down by their quality of training, says a report published yesterday by Parliament’s education committee which also claims that too many people, particularly the disadvantaged, are not being supported to pursue an apprenticeship.

Barristers are as vulnerable to cyberattacks as solicitors, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has warned, as the increase in technology used at the Bar and in court presents opportunities for cybercrime.

The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has applied for the right to grant independent practice rights in litigation, advocacy, immigration, probate and conveyancing to chartered legal executives.

The University of Law’s ‘100% employability promise’ for 2016, which offers LPC students half their tuition fees back if they are not employed nine months after graduating, has been joined by a further postgraduate course discount – but the offer’s small print has been heavily criticised.

LPC students at BPP Law School can now choose a fast-track option allowing them to complete the course in seven months rather than the traditional nine.

Despite pressure from students, the Bar Standards Board (BSB) will not reinstate spring Bar Professional Training Course exams. The regulator said it would be impossible to create a “suitable, secure alternative” to in-person assessments by April.

The King’s Counsel Appointments (KCA) have announced the names of 96 new silks – King’s Counsel (KCs). Despite the nine solicitors who applied this year, all successful applicants were barristers, reflecting the long-standing pattern that the KC cohort is overwhelmingly drawn from the Bar. Since solicitors first became eligible for KC status in 1995, only 66 have been appointed out of 231 applicants.

The Bar Standards Board has announced how it intends to eliminate the discrimination, harassment and unfair treatment experienced by women barristers, just as news has emerged that of the top 100 highest-earning criminal defence barristers, only four are women.

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

The annual celebration of pro bono achievement went ahead in a ceremony on 5 December, organised by LawWorks, hosted by Allen & Overy, and sponsored by the Law Society and LexisNexis. 

Criminal legal aid fees are set to increase by the end of September, as the government revealed plans to “lay a statutory instrument in parliament before 21 July, to begin the process of implementing increases to fees”. 

More than 100 QCs have signed a petition requesting that the Garrick Club’s members, including a number of senior lawyers, vote for women to be admitted at its next general meeting on 7 December. The club is one of London’s last remaining gentleman’s clubs and has had a long association with the legal profession.

To demonstrate the firework-like dynamism of a good candidate and avoid coming across like a damp squib, you need to show commercial awareness. For future lawyers, that involves keeping up with the business news and thinking about how the stories you read might affect law firms and their clients.

What sort of work is involved with an Initial Public Offering (IPO)?

The government’s review into criminal legal aid fees will not be ready until 2020, despite warnings that the crisis is now so severe that the number of criminal duty solicitors is fast dwindling to nothing.

Changes to speed up the way that family law courts deal with divorce, separation and child custody cases will be badly undermined by the government’s cuts to civil legal aid, the Law Society has said.

Mishcon de Reya LLP is rolling out Legora, a leading collaborative AI platform for its lawyers, making it available for all fee earners across all practice areas at the firm.