Rich is The Lawyer’s deputy editor. He has a particular focus on firms outside the UK top 50.
He was previously editor of The Lawyer’s student publication Lawyer 2B, and as such also has an interest everything to do with legal education, training contracts and pupillage, as well as lawyers’ ongoing career development.
Queen Mary, University of London (QMU) has launched an immigration law LLM, to begin in September 2014. The course, which will cover international migration and refugee law, European migration law and include modules on comparative immigration law, cultural diversity and the law and migration and security. It aims to chart the legal responses of governments […]
A population of just over two million people versus the enormous expectation, media interest and excitement that arises from hosting a World Cup finals. Brazil are favourites to win their home World Cup this summer, but could this be possible for Qatar in 2022? Under current FIFA rules the possibility of Qatar making it to […]
A consortium of businesses are collaborating to develop a new legal apprenticeship scheme in conveyancing. The consortium is made up of representatives from the ten firms who volunteered in response to an open call to take part by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). The participating firms, which include a number of Alternative Business Stuctures, are: Countrywide […]
For lawyers, ethics (broadly speaking) involves balancing (1) the public interest in the administration of justice and social welfare, (2) the client’s interest and (3) their own interests and the employing law firm’s interests. This raises interesting questions. For example, should a lawyer be able to legally abuse uncertainties in the law to their client’s […]
There’s a line in an old Beautiful South song: ‘How can you like it here when it never even rains?’ Bristol is an undeniably soggy city, and Lawyer 2B visited it during one of the wettest months in recorded history, but the rain refuses to dampen the spirits of the capital of the West, which […]
Much has been written about the new Defamation Act which came into force on 1 January 2014. Some commentators have called it a “boost for free speech”, while others have declared it a “missed opportunity”. The government’s line is that the new Act “rebalances the law on defamation to provide more effective protection for freedom […]
An academic from the University of Surrey has been crowned Law Teacher of the Year 2014. Luke Mason, an associate lecturer at the Guildford-based institution, won the Oxford University Press-sponsored award and £3,000 in prize money. He teaches Surrey’s undergraduate modules in Jurisprudence, as well as property, EU, employment and discrimination law, and social and employment policy. […]
It’s time for Northern Ireland to follow the rest of the country’s lead on same-sex marriage laws. MSPs recently voted in favour of the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill in Scotland this February, by an overwhelming majority: 105 votes to 18. This followed England and Wales’s passing of the bill in July 2013. As it is […]
It was recently announced by the Equalities Minister Maria Miller that same-sex marriages will be legal from 29 March 2014, following the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act receiving Royal Assent in July 2013. Charlotte Brinsley, solicitor, Slater & Gordon This is historic for the United Kingdom and shows the huge progress we’ve made towards equal rights […]
Improving diversity within the legal profession is a subject that never seems to leave the headlines – at first gender diversity was top of everyone’s agendas, then it was ethnic diversity, and now social diversity is the hot topic. David Press, Proceed UK It appears that not a week goes by that we don’t see […]
For years, it was accepted that a stint as a paralegal would boost aspiring lawyers’ chances of getting a training contract. Is that the case any more? Training contracts are becoming more scarce. The number registered in 2011/12 was 4,869 – the lowest since 1997/98 and down from a pre-recession high of 6,303. Though investing […]
MPs recently voted on whether smoking should be allowed in vehicles with children present. They came out in favour of a ban by 376 votes to 107, empowering (though not compelling) ministers to make smoking in vehicles with children present a criminal offence. A fine of £60 has been proposed; no other penalties have been mooted […]