News just in this morning about House of Fraser’s decision to close nearly half of its stores is shocking; not just for the 6,000 jobs that will be lost, but for what it signifies for high street retailers generally. Among other locations, the company’s flagship Oxford Street store will close, presenting as it does an “existential threat” to the rest of the company. Yikes. For a flavour of other business news, cast your eye over this selection.

The big news from this week has to be Sports Direct founder (and all-round nice guy) Mike Ashley snatching up troubled department store House of Fraser mere minutes after it announced its collapse into administration last Friday morning.

The Solicitors Qualifying Exams (SQE) have taken the legal world by storm, from their introduction in September 2021 to the first SQE1 sitting in November 2021 and the subsequent release of results on 20 January 2022.

Hogan Lovells, one of the leading global law firms, is due to leave its City of London headquarters where it has been based in Atlantic House since 2001. 

It’s vacation scheme season and that means it’s the perfect time to take a glance at the business world and ensure that your commercial awareness is up to scratch. Our commercial awareness page is a great place to start working out how to develop your understanding of the business environment and how to demonstrate this in applications, but first take a quick read of some interesting commercial stories from this week.

To secure a training contract, you need to familiarise yourself with four areas of knowledge. This will help you understand the profession and the job you hope to do, effectively research a law firm and identify your skills and strengths to demonstrate in applications.

To secure a training contract, you need to familiarise yourself with four areas of knowledge. This will help you to understand the profession and the job you hope to do, effectively research a law firm and identify your skills and strengths to demonstrate in applications.

To secure a training contract, you need to familiarise yourself with four areas of knowledge. This will help you understand the profession and the job you hope to do, effectively research a law firm and identify your skills and strengths to demonstrate in applications.

Herbert Smith Freehills LLP is poised to merge with the US law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, establishing a new transatlantic powerhouse that’ll employ 2,700 lawyers and generate more than £1.5 billion in revenue.

With the madness associated with extreme temperatures abating (for one day at least), employ this brief period of coolness to gather your thoughts. We suggest stepping away from the fan and concentrating on improving your commercial awareness in advance of the interviews that you’re (hopefully) going to have lined up following your successful applications.

Why is competition law so integral to practising law in Brussels?

What would be the impact for the City if Britain were to leave the European Union?

Several schools now use sophisticated monitoring services, provided by companies such as e-Safe Systems Ltd, to monitor the online activities of its pupils. The surveillance extends to all use of school resources, including when pupils, or staff, log on to school networks from home using their own devices or use school-owned devices at home.

A well-established set in Lincoln’s Inn, Hardwicke Chambers, is set to change its name to Gatehouse Chambers because the “history did not sit comfortably with our values”, said Brie Stevens-Hoare QC, joint head of chambers.

A £1 million hardship fund has been created by SBA The Solicitors’ Charity, formerly known as the Solicitors Benevolent Association, to support solicitors in financial difficulty and with accessible savings of less than £2,500, as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The Law Society has announced the awards on offer as part of its Diversity Access Scheme, which this year includes two guaranteed training contracts.