The Solicitors Regulation Authority is seeking to replace the traditional requirements of the training contract with a process that ensures the skills of prospective solicitors.

A number of firms' work placement schemes have been shortlisted for the annual National Council for Work Experience Awards.

Professional services providers (ie, lawyers, surveyors, accountants, financial advisers, insurance brokers and architects) all run the risk of giving negligent advice to clients.

According to recent reports in The Lawyer, City firm Norton Rose saved millions of pounds and around 100 jobs last financial year thanks to a flexible-working programme and the outsourcing of 60 members of support staff.

Law firms are avoiding reporting the true extent of their gender pay gaps and regulations should be updated to force them to be transparent, Conservative MP Maria Miller has said.

Magic circle giant Allen & Overy has become the first law firm to join the government's new social mobility initiative which gets companies to offer internships to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Pro bono charity LawWorks named the winners of its annual awards at a dinner on 23 June at the Law Society.

Both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Government Legal Profession (GLP) offer pupillages leading to permanent roles with fixed salaries, holiday and sickness pay, pensions and all the usual employment protection rights.

Junior barristers are set to benefit from a new online toolkit which has been specifically for them by the Bar Council’s Young Barristers’ Committee. 

The first two people to have completed the Accutrainee programme have been taken on by the firms at which they trained.

The Modern Law Awards last week honoured the chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, Diane Burleigh OBE, for her lifetime of achievements in the legal profession.

The accountancy firm KPMG has recently been awarded an alternative business structure licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

BPP University College of Professional Studies became BPP University on 6 August 2013.

There is a bumper crop of interesting business stories this week, ready for you to read and digest.

The University of Law is the first university to be granted an Alternative Business Structure licence by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

The Access to Justice Foundation, which aids pro bono work, is running its third annual essay competition for law students

Bar chairman Alistair MacDonald QC has said that there should be a complete ban on all fees paid by barristers to instructing solicitors to prevent attempts to disguise referral fees as administration fees.

BMA Law is a new independent law firm set up by the British Medical Association - the representative body of doctors and medical students - to provide legal advice to the health profession.

Launched at the start of September, the Law Society’s new three-year professional ethics programme and web hub have been designed to offer a “safe space” to help members to balance commitments to clients and wider society. 

The eighth annual LawWorks & Attorney General Student Awards are underway, with nominations now being accepted for those law students and law schools undertaking great pro bono work.