Huge efforts have been made to continue the work of the courts during the pandemic but, as the global crisis prolongs its hold on life and the economy, the impact on human rights and access to justice has been severe.
The government recently announced that it is introducing legislation to allow people to use video-conferencing technology for the witnessing of wills being made during the Covid 19 pandemic and has issued guidance to help them do so. We explain the purpose and process of the new proposals.
In this article, we’re on the hunt to identify the essential legal skills for the decade ahead. We asked some lawyers: what are the key qualities for today’s legal world? What skills are they hoping to develop? What will be most important for the lawyers of 2020? To find out, Eloise Skinner spoke to Adam […]
Radical changes to the way lawyers are currently regulated have been proposed in a report, which recommends a single regulator for all legal services, regardless of who provides them. This would include will writers, mediators, law tech providers, and ‘paid’ McKenzie Friends.
There has been concern over the privacy implications of contact-tracing apps, which are designed to alert users to the risk of having been exposed to the coronavirus, based on notification that someone they were recently near to has been diagnosed with it. NHSX is currently developing and testing such an app in the UK. Paul Magrath outlines the main technical options and potential data protection issues.
Moving to remote hearings was the only way to keep the justice system alive in the face of a global pandemic. But without the trappings of a physical court, how do we ensure that such hearings deliver all the essentials of justice according to the law? And how will this experience inform the future of justice?
Applying for training contracts and vacation schemes can be a daunting process for any student or graduate. With so many firms out there and lots of information to digest, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are some tips to help you with your applications. Do your research Research is paramount when […]
Fieldfisher is looking to move away from considering A Level results as part of its recruitment assessment, mirroring similar decisions happening in other firms. The move comes as the firm introduced last year a new situational judgement assessment with Capp, a psychometric testing services consultancy aimed at measuring behaviour and attitudes in relation to work-related […]
Never mind the headlines. Graduate recruiters at some of the top law firms have been cooling for a while on the importance of applicants having top A Level grades. In fact, if you were to look at the recent trainee intake of an example firm, broken down by top three A Level grades achieved, you’d […]
As students’ stomachs went into freefall last week, life decisions were being made on the hoof, writes editor Catrin Griffiths.
Ashurst will no longer use A Level results as part of its recruitment process, with the firm reassuring this year’s students that their grades will not disadvantage them if they apply for a training contract. Ashurst’s announcement follows the unfolding A Level debacle which saw students protest the controversial algorithm that saw many of their […]
As A Level chaos broke out across the UK last week, DWF made the decision to stop asking for specific A level grades from training contract applicants. The decision has been made to attract talent that might otherwise have been put off by the firm’s grade requirements. Firms’ attitudes to A Level grades vary considerably. Some set exacting […]
TL career clinic March 2021 from The Lawyer on Vimeo.
Linklaters‘ in-house tech startup Nakhoda has started to host trainees as part of secondments aimed at equipping them with product development and commercial skills. Under the leadership of former head of innovation Shilpa Bhandarkar, who has recently been appointed as chief executive officer of Nakhoda, the 2017-launched in-house start-up sees developers, designers and product managers […]
Three more firms have revealed their trainee retention results for the spring. White & Case is holding on to 14 of its 17 March qualifiers (82.4 per cent), all in permanent roles. Two trainees are joining the firm’s offices in Dubai and Geneva. The London office executive partner Melissa Butler said: “Our trainees join a […]
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is set to resume its international secondment programme, having put it on hold since the first wave of the pandemic. Four trainees are to be sent on international secondment in March 2021, The Lawyer can reveal, while the firm’s policy will then remain under review until the next batch of secondments […]
DWF is set to offer a new trainee seat in its legal tech team, as the business faces increasing client demands involving innovation and technology. The listed firm will give one trainee the opportunity to take on the seat as part of its next rotation in February 2021. The candidates will receive a list with […]
Reed Smith has revealed its plans for a year-long programme to make its future trainees ready for the new Solicitors Qualification Exam (SQE) which will take place entirely within the law firm’s walls. The firm’s “professional SQE training path” will launch in 2022 and in effect will replace the Legal Practice Course (LPC). It will […]
DAC Beachcroft is to run a new training programme, based on the O-Shaped lawyer project, that aims to combine traditional skills with more business-orientated ones around clients and building relationships. The change comes off the back of a pilot with the O-Shaped lawyer scheme, that the firm signed up to in September 2019. The initiative […]
With the controversy surrounding this year’s A Level results showing no signs of abating, a growing number of parties are set to pursue various legal challenges against the Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson and Ofqual. There has been a flurry of activity since the announcement of results on Thursday, when it was confirmed […]
We’ve all been there. You finish university, perhaps your LPC too, only to find that you cannot get any work experience (voluntary or paid) because you don’t have any experience. It’s a vicious circle which can be hard to break out from. In 2016, the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) worked with the Law Society to […]
Linklaters has revealed its plans for vacation schemes this year, and will run three online events each lasting a fortnight, instead of its usual month-long face-to-face ones. To compensate students for the loss of the in-person experience and the extra two weeks’ income, the magic circle firm will pay as if the scheme was three […]
Clifford Chance will run its 2020 summer vacation scheme as a virtual event, in response to the current coronavirus pandemic. The virtual scheme will take place from Wednesday to Friday, 1-3 July and will comprise three days – instead of the traditional two weeks – of virtual learning by using external platform InsideSherpa, which was […]
Suddenly, many of us are finding ourselves adapting our daily routines to the new ‘norm’ – at least for the foreseeable future. For those in the legal education world, this has meant coming to terms with new ways of learning and studying as we are all encouraged to socially distance ourselves to protect others. In […]
Powered by Lexis Nexis, and featuring experts from the University of Law and Bird & Bird, this webcast explores the future of the legal profession. It looks at the developments currently taking place in the legal market, what those changes will mean for the future, and how students can develop the skills that will be […]
Is there still a social mobility problem in the UK legal profession? How can applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds get ahead? And what effect will the forthcoming to legal education and training have? Experts voice their opinion in our webcast
In this webcast, our expert panel discusses burning trainee concerns, such as: how to go about choosing your area of law, what support to expect from your law firm developing your business and commerce sense should you take a year out after an LPC? how not to feel intimidated by the unfamiliar work environment The panel […]
Powered by Lexis Nexis, and featuring experts from the University of Law and Herbert Smith Freehills, this webcast will help candidates make themselves employable in the eyes of law firms and barristers’ chambers, and land that first job in law. The content covers how to build a CV that can’t be ignored, personal presentation and […]
Harini Iyengar is a barrister at 11KWB, specialising in employment, discrimination and equality, education, partnership, data protection and procurement law. She is the Women’s Equality Party’s candidate for Vauxhall in the upcoming general election.
Christine Cordon has had a varied and unusual career. The first in her family to go to uni, she didn’t do a training contract but was an associate at Ashurst and has worked in America and in-house at the big banks. Now she’s the top lawyer at the holiday start-up Secret Escapes.
Shami Chakrabarti says she was surprised that the January 13 announcement of her imminent departure from civil rights charity Liberty attracted so much attention. Sandwiched between the deaths of singer David Bowie and actor Alan Rickman, the news made the front page of several national newspapers, notably left-leaning duo The Guardian and The Independent. Chakrabarti, […]
