Practice Management

Bonuses for managers could be made contingent on improvements in social mobility and the representation of minority ethnic people in law firms, it was suggested yesterday.

Positive action – such as giving female barristers preferential access to briefs after returning to chambers from career breaks – can help address diversity problems, the Bar Council says.

One of the oldest legal advice centres in the country has been given a boost by taking advantage of the new path to qualifying as a solicitor by employing six apprentices.

Leeds is poised to become a lawtech innovation powerhouse, according to a report saying there is competition building for established practices among non-traditional providers of legal services.

Slater & Gordon’s ambition to become the country’s leading consumer law firm will mainly be fulfilled online as it looks to automate as much legal work as it can, its chief executive has explained.

The suspension of office working under lockdown has helped improve the mental and physical health of disabled lawyers, research has indicated.

Female solicitors undergoing the menopause have expressed concern about the impact it can have on meeting their billing targets, with firms urged to do more to understand the symptoms and their effects.

A new specialist criminal law firm has launched with a stop and search app that allows users to record their interaction with the police and automatically uploads it to the cloud.

Solicitors from lower socio-economic backgrounds take around 18 months longer to reach partner at major City law firms than those from higher ones, a major study has concluded.

The early signs are that the performance of Bar students in last month’s controversial exams was “broadly in line” with the average, the Bar Standards Board said yesterday.

Students could save as much as £38,000 when qualifying as a solicitor following the introduction of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination next September, a report has estimated.

The Law Commission has launched new projects to ensure that English law can accommodate smart contracts and digital assets.

The decision on whether to approve the Solicitors Qualifying Examination has been delayed amid a call from groups representing more than 4,000 legal academics to reject it.

City giant Hogan Lovells has endorsed the launch of a charity’s government-backed advice line to help employers support staff experiencing or at risk of domestic abuse.

Blockchain and associated distributed ledger technologies will storm the world of international commerce, boosted by the Covid-19 pandemic, new guidance for lawyers has predicted.