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The government has welcomed the first common framework to measure the progress of social mobility within the professions, which was launched last Friday. The social mobility toolkit was published by Professions for Good.

Niche City litigation firm Bivonas has failed to overturn a ruling that it discriminated against an employed barrister on the basis of his sexual orientation. However, the College of Law and SRA have defeated a disability discrimination claim brought by an LPC student.

A former fixed-share partner at south-coast law firm Lester Aldridge has lost his appeal against a ruling that he was a partner and not an employee in the limited liability partnership and so unable to claim unfair dismissal.

Twelve large City law firms have registered their interest with a novel recruitment business that places senior lawyers with followings as consultants at law firms, allowing them to run their own practices and keep most of their billings, while drawing on the support and reputation of the firm.

News round-up takes in an important court victory for the Legal Services Commission on legal aid payments, a major survey showing that City lawyer salaries are very much on the up and partners borrowing more to pay tax bills.

There is no regulatory justification for retaining the 30-year-old policy of minimum salaries for trainee solicitors, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said. It also admitted to concerns that the Legal Education and Training Review’s timetable is too tight.

The Legal Services Board, Bar Council and 10 top law firms have signed the government’s ‘Business Compact’ on social mobility to end the “who you know, not what you know” culture, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced.

People aged 30 or over who choose to re-train as barristers are at a significant disadvantage to younger applicants, according to research from King’s College London. It also confirmed a continuing bias in favour of those with an Oxbridge education, but not gender.

The legal profession “is not doing enough” to make itself more representative of society, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed yesterday. While “intergenerational social mobility is the principal objective of the Coalition’s social policy”, government cannot do this alone, he said.

Students taking an aptitude test designed to weed out those likely to fail the Bar training course could be given a once-only opportunity to pass, it has emerged, after members of the Bar Standards Board raised questions about the policy of allowing unlimited attempts.

The Law Society is considering whether any law firm which recruits trainee solicitors should have to undergo mandatory training in equality and diversity, Legal Futures can report. It may also work with the largest City law firms to help them recruit more black and minority ethnic lawyers.

An aptitude test that indicates whether Bar students will pass their exams is “the best single predictor of course outcomes”, a pilot study has concluded. The Bar Standards Board is pressing ahead with plans to introduce the test formally in autumn 2012.

The Law Society is to launch a campaign aimed at moving flexible working – for both women and men – “into the mainstream of employment practice in law practices”. It has identified “buy-in” at senior partner level as the key challenge.

Large law firms are focusing more on partner performance, new research has found, with a greater share of profits for those who perform well in the current financial year, but demotion for those who do not.

Lawyers are more pessimistic about the future jobs market than other professionals, despite their salaries and opportunities holding up “unusually well” since the start of the recession, a survey has found.