Little more than two weeks into the new(ish) year and the stories so far suggest the legal market is in for a mixed year in 2016. Here is our round-up of some of the most read stories on Legal Week over the last seven days.

Kicking off last week law firm leaders from the likes of Allen & Overy, Dentons, Herbert Smith Freehills and Macfarlanes looked into their crystal balls to make their predictions for a year already beset by economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

While many were positive about the year ahead, Reed Smith on Friday gave some indication of the issues potentially facing law firms when it announced it was laying off 45 lawyers and a number of associated support staff.

Turning to the bar, the 2016 silk round (announced last week) is the largest since 2010-11, with 107 new QCs made up, but the number of solicitor-advocates in the group remains stubbornly low, as does representation from women and ethnic minorities.

Meanwhile at Legal Week we had news of our own last week with American Lawyer publisher ALM confirming it was acquiring us. The deal reunites us with our former sister company and creates a legal publishing company with unrivalled global coverage.