This round-up is big on banks; they seem to have featured heavily in the past week’s news cycle. For tales of their varying woes, plus much more, read on.

What is private equity?

A new conference aimed at anyone hoping to land a training contract with one of the international firms in the City has been announced.

The National Association of Licensed Paralegals has revealed that the Level 3 Paralegal Apprenticeship Standard is being completely overhauled. 

The Law Society’s annual report on the make-up of the profession has revealed several key stats, including that (i) the number of registered training contacts has risen, and (ii) the growth in numbers of practising solicitors has been led by women, at a rate that if it continues, will see women outnumber men in the profession by 2017. 

Want to improve your chances of getting a training contract? Developing your commercial awareness is a sure-fire way to impress recruiters and partners alike at interview – but it’s not something you can just start doing the day before. You need to put in the prep if you are to present as a credible candidate, so why not start here with this selection of stories from the past week.

The big story this week has been the spectacular collapse of Carillion, and the fallout from its compulsory liquidation. The construction and facilities company hasn’t just put its private sector building projects in jeopardy – it also had many public sector contacts which now need fulfilling. For this and other big business news, look no further.

LawWorks has announced the winners of the 18th LawWorks and Attorney General’s Student Pro Bono Awards, sponsored by LexisNexis. The awards celebrate the best pro bono activities undertaken by students and law schools.

The government should rethink plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a UK bill of rights, a cross-party parliamentary committee has warned.

Banana puns aside, this week has highlighted the importance of secure and functional IT systems with both TSB and Dixons Carphone facing the financial and administrative repercussions of failing to secure their customer's data, or provide working online services for their customers. There's more on this, plus Burberry's burning clothes ban, and the energy bill price cap, in this week's commercial news round-up.

The government has rejected calls from lawyers and firms to lower employment tribunal fees, which have caused a huge drop in the number of employment tribunal cases being brought since their introduction in 2013. 

The body overseeing legal aid decisions in England and Wales is being taken to court by human rights organisation Liberty over its refusal to help homeless people challenge potentially unlawful treatment by local councils.

Allen & Overy LLP and Travers Smith LLP have revealed a new partnership with LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex) charity GiveOut to launch a new LGBTQI Legal Aid Fund.

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.

LawCare recently published its findings relating to male mental health within the legal profession. The legal mental health charity released the findings of its all male focus group which took place on 19 July 2022 in a bid to better understand the needs of men in law and the mental health support they need in the workplace.  

Leading education and assessment provider Kaplan has been approved by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to be the End Point Assessment organisation for solicitor apprenticeships. A rigorous application process took place to review Kaplan’s experience, expertise and capacity to perform the role prior to its approval.

Now in its fourth year, the Legal Social Mobility Programme (LSMP) has increased its reach to 300 students from non-privileged backgrounds across seven towns and cities, broadening their access to the legal profession and developing their career aspirations.

It feels like we’ve been saying it a lot recently, but it really has been an unprecedented week in British history, with stories such as the fall of Thomas Cook (see below for more) almost immediately overshadowed by the Supreme Court’s ruling that Boris Johnson’s recent prorogation of Parliament is unlawful.