One of the few benefits of a summer holiday that feels more like late autumn is that you won’t be tempted to spend all day lying around in the sunshine. Instead, you could cast your eye over this week’s collection of business stories, all designed to help you work on your commercial awareness.

A pilot scheme launched by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, which gives law students the chance to help unrepresented doctors who have been referred for a fitness-to-practise hearing, is enjoying early success.

The Co-operative Group's announcement of its intentions to create 3,000 jobs in the legal sector is the latest and clearest sign that alternative business structures are set to have a big impact on the legal profession.

A jittery start to the week on the world’s stock markets saw share prices plunging; this week’s round-up discusses both this and other key business news.

The legal sector’s mental health charity LawCare has launched its new Life in the Law 2025 surveys, which look at mental health and wellbeing in the legal profession. 

Leading experts from several international law firms have given their verdict on MPs’ rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal to exit the European Union (EU), which leaves the UK on a default course to exit the EU without an agreement on 29 March.

Trevor Sterling, a personal injury solicitor at Moore Barlow, has been elected as the first Black senior partner at a UK top 100 law firm.

Students’ exceptional contributions to pro bono were honoured yesterday at the LawWorks and Attorney General Student Pro Bono Awards.

IMD Solicitors, a Manchester-based law firm, introduced a four-day work week six months ago and has reported positive impacts as a result of the change, including an increase in turnover and improved wellbeing.

Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have secured a historic victory in the third UK general election in four years, with Labour routed in its worst electoral performance since 1935.

The Co-operative Group has pulled out of a £750 million deal to buy 632 high street branches from the Lloyds Banking Group.

With people in the Midlands and the North of England in “dire need of early legal advice”, the Bar Council has called for the government to invest in local court systems ahead of today’s spending review.

Last week the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced that 20 Nightingale courtrooms, across nine venues, will remain open this year to tackle the huge number of outstanding cases. 

The number of practising solicitors in England and Wales has grown in the last year while the number of registered training contracts has fallen slightly, the Law Society’s annual statistics report has revealed.

Autumn tends to bring with it a renewed sense of vigour and the chance for a fresh start – make one of your autumn resolutions a commitment to honing your commercial awareness skills in a bid to impress future employers. Where to start? Look no further than this selection from the past week.

The use of video-link technology as a replacement for face-to-face hearings is not yet “sufficiently advanced” enough to be effective, says Jo Hynes, a PhD researcher at Exeter University.

Addleshaw Goddard, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Hogan Lovells have made it into the Times' Top 50 Employers for Women list.

MPs have sharply criticised the government’s courts modernisation programme because it “risks excluding the most vulnerable in our society from access to justice,” and called for a halt in the process of court closures.

Legal aid firms are being urged to claim a potential £100 million in unbilled fees as they try to weather the effects of the coronavirus crisis, a minister reported in early May.

The annual Law Society Diversity Access Scheme (DAS) has reopened its system and is accepting applications until 6 April 2016.