BARBRI has announced the innovative funding initiative, BARBRI Bridges, to support and enhance diversity inclusion and wider access to the legal sector.

The government has proposed raising civil legal aid fees for the first time in 30 years. While this has been welcomed by the Bar Council and the Law Society, both organisations are concerned that the changes don’t go far enough to match the rise in consumer price index).

Online legal tools for women to protect themselves from domestic abuse and a chatbot designed to help people with special educational needs access legal advice are among the eight Legal Access Challenge finalists.

Diversity, equal opportunity and the end of the ‘old boys network’ remain a long way off in the legal profession, a study by the Sutton Trust and PRIME showing that three quarters of judges and 71% of Queen’s Counsel (QC) barristers were privately educated has revealed. 

After announcing that the opening date of the Pupillage Gateway application system would be moved from April to January from 2016 onwards, the Bar Council has now U-turned to say that the current timetable will remain in place (with applications being made in April and offers being sent out in August) until further notice.

TLT LLP has set a new target to achieve 50% female representation at partner level by 2029 as it works towards becoming “one of the most progressive and diverse law firms in the UK”. 

The University of Law has secured an exclusive partnership with magic circle law firm Clifford Chance to deliver its Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) courses. 

Legal technology company Lawhive has put its new AI paralegal, Lawrence, to the test, posing 90 sample questions from the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE) SQE1 assessment. Having answered 67 out of 90 questions correct, Lawrence’s total mark was 74%. 

These are mainly located in the City of London. 

A-level students are not the only ones poring over results and figures today to see what that means for them. Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that consumers’ retail spending rose 1.4% in July following the June vote for Britain to leave the European Union, a much higher increase than economists predicted.

Young Citizens, proud supporter of Public Legal Education, announced the launch of the Big Legal Lesson 2022 – a national campaign that includes free classroom resources to help more young people learn about the law. 

Ever since I decided to study law at secondary school, I’ve been told that I’d eventually have to learn to balance my time.

CEO of Obelisk Support and founder of The First 100 Years and Next 100 Years campaigns Dana Denis-Smith has been recognised in the New Year’s Honours List for her services to women in law. 

Clifford Chance and Irwin Mitchell are the latest firms to reveal their gender and ethnicity pay gap figures, with both reporting a decreased gap compared to previous years.

An important part of creating an inclusive workplace is the sharing of knowledge and experience across teams and departments, with those who have a long-established career in particular helping those at different stages of their own career.

On 15 March 2018 the LawCareers.Net Student Law Society Awards brought students from 23 universities together with recruiters, partners and trainees from 11 sponsor law firms and one Inn of Court for an evening of celebrating achievement and networking at Painters’ Hall in London.

After five months of strikes, criminal barristers in England and Wales voted to end strike action on Monday 10 October, accepting a government pay rise of 15% on legal aid fees.

Ryanair’s bouncing cheques aside, this week’s commercial news round-up is largely American focused: from Trump’s continued trade war with China to the stock market milestone. And in case you were missing your Brexit update, the Law Society has warned of a £3 billion loss from the legal sector if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Step this way for your weekly dose of business news.

The Bar Council will respond to claims that many barristers’ sets’ policies for dealing with sexual harassment are not fit for purpose by producing new guidelines to which chambers must adapt.