News

Forsters boosts NQ lawyer pay to £80k — also ups law school maintenance grants
£8k for both PGDL and SQE

Which practice area boasts the smartest lawyers?
Legal Cheek commenters spark debate

Best of the blogs
Weekly round-up of the top legal blogosphere posts

Rebuke for solicitor who made ‘lewd gesture’ at firm Christmas party
2017 incident caught on video

Suits out, sequins in! ‘Diva of Divorce’ Ayesha Vardag reveals new firm dress code which encourages lawyers to express themselves with gold leather trousers, scarlet Dr Martens and even pink hair
Inspired by extravagant private member's club in London's Mayfair

Over 700 solicitors admitted through new SQE route
Five exams now taken place, SRA reveals

8 out of 9 spring NQs stay put at Addleshaws
All permanent contracts

Judge tells Kanye West’s lawyers Greenberg Traurig to try harder to reach him
US firm had requested court's permission to use newspaper ads

Former junior lawyer goes public with decision to quit City law
Nina Pulimood recalls her journey into corporate law, then out again, and removing the 'safety blanket of financial stability'

We asked ChatGPT to write a poem about life as a law student
AI meets the arts

10 memes that accurately capture the pain of TC application season
Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour…

BCLP offers lawyers ‘time-off bonuses’
New policy aims to encourage outside interests and family time; also sets aside hours for diversity and innovation

Sleuthing former Clifford Chance lawyer leaves Nadhim Zahawi fighting for his political life
Dan Neidle calls for former chancellor to apologise after he reportedly paid around £5 million to HMRC

Ashurst posts 84% spring retention score
16 out of 19

Disbarment for Supreme Court embargo-breaking barrister
Timothy Crosland previously said leak of Heathrow runway ruling was necessary to 'protest the deep immorality' of the court’s decision

Monday morning round-up
The top legal affairs news stories from this morning and the weekend

Clifford Chance posts 69% spring retention result
29 out of 42

Regulator mulls tweaking SQE to reflect Welsh law
Students may have to learn how and when to apply it

Kanye West’s lawyers Greenberg Traurig request court’s permission to use newspaper ads to tell him they quit
Top US firm unable to contact rapper

What to expect when you start out as a lawyer
From difficult clients to billing targets and ‘the sometimes mind-numbing drudgery that can be part of a legal career’, former City partner Nicky Richmond shares advice with readers