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International Edition

Weil Gotshal to pay London NQs £97k as US firm boosts associate rates

Weil Gotshal & Manges has raised its salary bands for City associates, with newly-qualified (NQ) London lawyers at the US firm set to receive £97,000 from September this year. The move marks an increase of 8% on last year, when NQs were paid £90,000, and a 14% increase from two years ago, when NQ salaries stood at £85,000.
2 minute read

International Edition

Education without walls - opportunities in the virtual classroom

The new media age has created a generation of law students well versed in digital communication and technologies. A host of social media tools and free-to-use communication platforms have become second nature to the lawyers of tomorrow. As legal practice becomes increasingly globalised and law firms explore the cost-effective and collaborative benefits of virtual technologies, how should legal education keep pace?
6 minute read

International Edition

Old and new clash as Korean law students protest over proposed shake-up of old order

The annual opening ceremony for Korea's Judicial Research and Training Institute (JRTI) is usually a time for pride. 
To enter the institute's mandatory two-year course and become a Korean lawyer, trainees must first have passed one of the world's toughest Bar exams. Only around one in 10 test-takers succeed. But at this year's ceremony, held in March, pride was supplanted by protest. More than half of the starting class of 947 boycotted the event.
5 minute read

International Edition

BPP partners with bank to offer loans to law school's students

BPP Law School has teamed up with Investec to offer its students an exclusive law loan. The Investec loan, which students will be able to apply for from today (6 July), will be available to full-time UK students who have already accepted and enrolled to study the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), Legal Practice Course (LPC) or Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) at any of BPP's eight locations.
2 minute read

International Edition

Too white, too male - what is wrong with elitism?

The Times is today running an article on whether judges are too white, too male and too elitist? (I'd link if I could, but paywalls mean I can't). As someone who is too white, and male, I am going to focus on what is meant by being too elitist. Friend of lazy researchers, Wikipedia, offers this definition:
4 minute read

International Edition

Slaughters and Sidley post 100% retention rates for autumn NQ intakes

Slaughter and May and Sidley Austin have both posted 100% retention rates for their autumn intake of newly-qualified lawyers (NQs). Slaughters is set to keep on all of its 59 trainees in September, marking an increase on recent rounds, after the firm retained 96% of its NQs in March 2011 and 93% in autumn 2010.
2 minute read

International Edition

Aptitude tests - should the legal profession abandon its search for the G-spot?

Research published by the Legal Services Board by Chris Dewberry brings into sharper relief the value of aptitude tests and their application to the legal professions. For me, it suggests that the value of aptitude tests is most likely to be felt at the entry into university stage (and possibly not there) but that ensuring that they operate fairly poses a major challenge. The uses proposed by the Bar Standards Board and being investigated by the Law Society face significant problems (see also here, here, here, here and here for previous posts and links to Sutton Trust work in particular).
8 minute read

International Edition

Farrers becomes latest firm to sign up to exclusive Kaplan training deal

Farrer & Co has signed an exclusive deal with Kaplan Law School to provide the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the Graduate Diploma of Law (GDL) for all of the London firm's trainees. As a part of the agreement, which will start in September 2012, Farrers' trainees will participate in Kaplan's 'Bridge to Practice' programme, which is designed to ease the transition from the LPC into life at a commercial law firm.
2 minute read

International Edition

A&O cuts number of City training contracts on offer by 14%

Allen & Overy (A&O) is set to scale back the number of London training contracts it offers by 14% for those applying from this November. The magic circle firm will take on 90 trainees per year from 2014 - down from the current figure of 105.
2 minute read

International Edition

New College of Humanities: New Chums on the block...?

Frothing at the mouth from bloggers, pundits and others - whether they know what they are talking about or not - is always amusing, because it tends to lead to polemic at best, ranting at worst. 1. On its website, dated June 2011, The New College of Humanities (coined 'New Chums' by Timothy Pitt-Payne QC) announced its intention to give birth to: "a new concept in university-level education. It offers education in excellence and an outstanding academic environment in the heart of London. The College was founded by 14 of the world's top academics."
11 minute read

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