Happy Thursday, it’s nearly Friday! As you wait patiently for the weekend, why not grab your coffee, put your feet up and relax while we provide your daily dose of commercial awareness. 

Does a duty of good faith restrict a party’s contractual discretion?

With coronavirus updates still dominating the news, this week’s commercial news round-up is designed to summarise the pandemic’s impact on the business and legal world. So, while we await Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s briefing on Sunday, where he is set to reveal the UK’s lockdown exit strategy, take some time to top-up your commercial awareness.

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s admittance into hospital, in a government briefing earlier this week Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab claimed it is too early to consider how the UK will exit the current coronavirus lockdown. As the UK heads into the Easter bank holiday weekend and nears the end of its third week in lockdown, here are the top news stories from the business and legal world.

What is the Financial List and what does the first judgment from it tell us about its operation?

The phrase “despite the impact of covid-19” embodies the overarching theme for M&A deals in 2021 for large international law firms. There has been a complete turnaround where deals, and especially megadeals, are de facto doing better than during pre-covid time. Deals are at a 10 year high in the first quarter of 2021 in the US. 

Technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) is one of the fastest-developing sectors of the legal market, particularly with the continuing advancement of AI.

In September 2020, 10 new barristers from across England and Wales joined #IAmTheBar – the Bar Council’s award-winning social mobility campaign, which is now in its third year – as social mobility advocates.

Social mobility advocates, a new group of barristers from across England and Wales, have joined the Bar Council’s award-winning social mobility campaign – #IAmTheBar.

It was a different kind of awards ceremony last night as hundreds of viewers stayed at home to watch the 17th annual LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards streamed live on Facebook and Instagram.

Merchant Taylor’s Hall in the City of London crackled with excitement on 18 May as representatives from over 60 top law firms convened to find out who would be the winners of the prestigious LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards 2017.

The number of firms adopting contextual recruitment practices is growing, but structural inequality and a lack of representation at senior levels mean that Black candidates continue to face additional barriers to becoming lawyers.

On 22 May 2014 the LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards celebrated their 11th year with over 200 recruiters, partners, trainees and other friends joining the LawCareers.Net team for a glamorous presentation at Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London.

Pannone, Freeth Cartwright and Cripps Harries Hall have dropped out of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to work for list, leaving only five law firms featured in the rankings.

Commercial awareness is a vital skill for trainee solicitors. For candidates applying for vacation schemes and training contracts, becoming commercially aware involves building an understanding of how law firms and their clients work as businesses, as well as how they are impacted by the wider world. This guide rounds up a range of key commercial stories and talking points from 2020.

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. 

Trainees should be paid £23,122 outside of London and £26,068 in London, the Law Society has said as part of the annual minimum salary review.

Growth in the legal sector could be halved if Britain leaves the EU without a deal, says the Law Society as it releases economic forecasts in collaboration with Thomas Reuters to predict alternative Brexit scenarios.

The backlog at crown courts in England and Wales has hit a new high of 64,015 unresolved cases, according to data published last week by HM Courts and Tribunals Services.