Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is growing massively in the legal sector due to its cost-effectiveness and success rates in comparison to going to court. ADR utilises dispute resolution processes, such as arbitration, mediation and negotiation, to help disputing parties come to an agreement. 

Backlogs in the criminal courts remain at record levels, with 379,437 cases outstanding in the magistrates’ courts and 80,203 in the crown court – including more than 21,002 cases open for over a year. 

In this LCN Says, we speak to Rebecca Keay from Mayer Brown International LLP about life as a trainee in an intellectual property (IP) and data protection seat.

From deciding between law and accounting while studying at the University of Johannesburg, Oratile Jonas is now an associate in the corporate team at Gowling WLG. Find out about Oratile’s journey into the profession in this interview.

This month, love is in the air, yet the inevitable deadlines for training contracts and vacation schemes are fast approaching. Junior lawyers and students often manifest a love-hate relationship with the application process for any role. In this article I hope to provide some reassurance that there are several factors that you can control in that process, without sending chocolates and flowers (save those for your actual loved ones!). 

A 15-hour Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage this week disrupted thousands of businesses worldwide and oil prices have spiked following new US sanctions on Russia’s top producers. In the UK, gambling ads featuring Lewis Hamilton and Chelsea FC were banned over concerns about youth influence and, across the globe, the viral Labubu dolls have driven a 250% revenue surge for Chinese toy giant Pop Mart. Read on for LCN’s picks of the top commercial stories this week!

Law firm Kingsley Napley LLP is the first legal employer to sign the Menopause Workplace Pledge, which is run by the Wellbeing of Women charity.

The largest ever study of innovation in the legal sector has revealed that lawyers are becoming more innovative when it comes to organising and managing their businesses.

A fall in legal sector revenue is set to end the two-year wage war between the City’s top law firms, with lawyers’ salaries likely to plateau or be reversed, legal recruiters have said. 

The government has announced the closure of 86 courts across England and Wales - almost one fifth of all courts and tribunals in the country.