Eighteen major law firms, including Linklaters, Macfarlanes, White & Case and Sullivan & Cromwell, have joined a new initiative to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds join the legal profession.
Opening up the profession: ITV offers first in-house apprenticeship through employer-led Trailblazer scheme
ITV has become the first company to offer a solicitor apprenticeship under the new Trailblazers Apprenticeship in Law initiative.
Bears, woods and silk: dual research reminds profession of stalled diversity progress
Recent efforts to improve social mobility within the legal profession are having little-to-no effect at the Bar and within the judiciary, two new studies have concluded.
Legal watchdog overhauls handbook to green light apprenticeships as it ushers in ‘inconceivable’ changes
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has inched closer to controversial apprenticeship qualifications while green lighting a raft of changes to the SRA handbook.
‘The BSB needs to be unafraid to be radical’: Bar regulator looks to overhaul training
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is looking to carry out the ‘most sweeping reforms to Bar training in a generation’ after research found that parts of the current system were viewed as ‘an absolute disgrace’ and ‘exploitative’.
The Student View: Norton Rose Fulbright’s Jonathan Ball on forensics, IP and his route to law
Jonathan Ball of Norton Rose Fulbright initially worked as a scientist before becoming a lawyer, and is now an Intellectual Property and Technology disputes partner. Here, Jonathan discusses his career and the nature of his work and offers some helpful tips for students and professionals from other careers who are interested in a career in law.
SRA approves plans to broaden qualification route beyond training contracts
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) board yesterday (21 May) formally approved an overhaul of its training regulations and continuing professional development (CPD) regime in a step towards opening up the pathways to qualification and ongoing self-assessment.
Continue reading “SRA approves plans to broaden qualification route beyond training contracts”
Barclays to offer 80 work experience places as high street bank mulls apprenticeship scheme
Barclays’ in-house legal team is to offer around 80 work experience placements to students from socio-economic groups under-represented in the legal profession in partnership with its panel law firms this summer. Continue reading “Barclays to offer 80 work experience places as high street bank mulls apprenticeship scheme”
Guest post: A cannon fodder shortage looms as LPC and trainee numbers head for market over-correction
Nigel Hudson has written an interesting post on LPC numbers. He says (among other things):
‘The number of students enrolled on full-time LPCs has shrunk by 8.4% this year. In 2012/13 enrolments fell 4%, so the trend is downward and falling fast.
In all, 5,198 students enrolled with the 27 LPC providers for 2013/2014, according to data from the Central Applications Board, the admissions service for full-time LPC and Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) applicants.’ Continue reading “Guest post: A cannon fodder shortage looms as LPC and trainee numbers head for market over-correction”
Comment: The social contract – what is the law firm but the people?
The market for legal services will never be the same again. Mergers, alternative business structures, multi-disciplinary practices, law firm failures, onshoring, offshoring and the continual advance of technology all signpost change, and will continue to drive change in the future. But as we all jostle for market position and attempt to make sense of this ongoing maelstrom, how much thought is being given to the lifeblood of the profession: the lawyers of tomorrow?
Continue reading “Comment: The social contract – what is the law firm but the people?”