Legal Education

Law Student Report 2011

By Legal Week | February 15, 2010

Capturing the views of over 3,000 law undergraduates from the UK's top universities (Russell Group) as well as Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) students from the College of Law, BPP Law School and Kaplan Law School, this report identifies the reasons why students choose law as a career and how their views of law firms develop throughout their studies. This report looks at the career options considered by students, what attracts them to law and the most powerful influences on their choice of firm. The report reveals which forms of marketing have the most impact and which firms students believe are the most prestigious, the best for training contracts and best for a healthy work/life balance.

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Training and education

By Legal Week | January 4, 2010

Alex Aldridge looks at how exclusive training deals came to dominate legal education, while Charlotte Edmond assesses law firms' efforts to reach out to a more diverse group of aspiring lawyers...

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International Edition

Training and education: Moving on up

By Legal Week | December 21, 2009

It was inevitable that the recent report put together by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn would find professions such as law and medicine dominated by affluent, privately-educated individuals. While social mobility has been on the political agenda for years, the professions have seen little change, with the majority of the UK's lawyers still coming from a select group of independently-educated pupils who go on to attend Russell Group universities.

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Training and education: Moving on up

By Legal Week | December 21, 2009

It was inevitable that the recent report put together by former cabinet minister Alan Milburn would find professions such as law and medicine dominated by affluent, privately-educated individuals. While social mobility has been on the political agenda for years, the professions have seen little change, with the majority of the UK's lawyers still coming from a select group of independently-educated pupils who go on to attend Russell Group universities.

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Training and education: All tied up

By Legal Week | December 21, 2009

The last few years have seen the College of Law, BPP Law School and, to a lesser extent, Kaplan Law School jostle with each other to secure tie-ups with the top law firms. In the main, firms have been receptive to their advances, with the result being that the vast majority of UK top 20 law firms - and many top 50 firms and US firms with London offices - now have arrangements in place to send their future trainees to study the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC) exclusively with a certain course provider.

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Career Clinic: Is my withdrawn training contract better kept secret?

By Legal Week | October 7, 2009

"I had a training contract with a top 10 City firm, but after failing a GDL exam, my contract was withdrawn. I have spoken to a few other students from the same firm and other City firms who are in the same position. Now that we are all reapplying for contracts, is it worth mentioning the previous TC? Surely it is a positive achievement despite the disappointing end? Would it be wise to mention this on a CV/application form, or would it be better to do it face-to-face with recruiters?"

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College of Law comes top of the class to seal Ashurst training tie-up

By Legal Week | September 30, 2009

Ashurst has become one of the last firms in the UK top 20 to sign an exclusive deal to send all its future trainees to a specific course provider. From 2010, all Ashurst trainees will study at the College of Law, with the law school beating competition from rivals including BPP, Kaplan Law School and the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice to secure the agreement.

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Why scrapping training contracts is a bad idea

By Legal Week | September 30, 2009

Former Taylor Wessing trainee Natalie Salunke questions the recent proposals to do away with training contracts...

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Dentons signs up to exclusive training deal with College of Law

By Legal Week | August 20, 2009

Denton Wilde Sapte has sealed a deal to send all of its future trainees to study exclusively with the College of Law. The agreement, which starts in September, will cover both the Legal Practice Course (LPC) and the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL). It will allow those with training contracts with Dentons to study at any of the College's five centres in the UK.

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Career Clinic: Is a London TC better than training in the regions?

By Legal Week | August 20, 2009

"I secured a training contract with a regional office of a large international firm back in 2007 to start in 2009 but, as expected, I have been deferred until 2010. "My problem is that I want to change offices and start my training contract in London. My perceptions of the legal world have changed drastically since applying for TCs towards the end of my second year at university and I now feel that the level of work which is available in London is more suited to my professional aspirations for the future.

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Law.com

New NALP Survey Shows 85% Job Satisfaction—But Increased Debt—Among 2019 Law School Grads

By Christine Charnosky | July 20, 2023

The class of 2019 law school graduates have higher overall job satisfaction and some are earning more as compared with previous classes, but many also have more student loan debt, according to a National Association for Law Placement Foundation and NALP study released Wednesday.

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Law.com

Missing 'Light Bulb Moments': Former Western State Law Dean Easley on Retiring After 44 Years in Academia

By Christine Charnosky | July 19, 2023

"And I thought to myself, I've got to find a way that I can be a law student permanently and yet make money at it. So I loved every minute of the 44 years—year after year as everything was evolving and changing," Allen Easley told Law.com.

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Law.com

'The Supreme Court Made It Harder, Not Impossible': Law School Leaders Talk Recruiting Without Affirmative Action

By Christine Charnosky | July 18, 2023

"The Supreme Court made it harder. It didn't make it impossible," Timothy Lynch, vice president and general counsel for the University of Michigan, said during the recent AALS affirmative action conference. "So that means we all have to work harder and that is just one of the challenges in life."

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Daily Report Online

Baker & Hostetler Helps Georgia Law School Create Legal Tech-Driven Course

By Thomas Spigolon | July 18, 2023

The course is among the few in the U.S. to prepare law students for attorney and non-attorney legal tech jobs, and "one of the only examples of a private law firm contributing directly to law school curriculum," the firm said.

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Legaltech News

Harvard Launches New Initiative to Better Understand—and Shape—the Future of AI

By Cassandre Coyer | July 18, 2023

Harvard Law School and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society become the latest players in the legal industry to dedicate resources to further legal professionals' understanding of artificial intelligence.

4 minute read

National Law Journal

Law Students Join Forces to Create Smoother Career Paths to Plaintiffs Work

By Christine Schiffner | July 18, 2023

A new nationwide student organization aims to help young attorneys map a career path into plaintiffs work.

3 minute read

Law.com

Ahead of the Curve: The U.S. Supreme Court's Affirmative Action Ruling Has Created a Perception Problem for Law Schools

By Christine Charnosky | July 17, 2023

In this week's column, we examine law school leaders' fears that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating affirmative action in higher education could lead to demoralization among potential law school applicants.

7 minute read

Law.com

USC Gould Appoints First Black Law Dean

By Christine Charnosky | July 17, 2023

"As the first African American to hold this position ever and the first woman to hold this position in over four decades, my deanship will be about creating a new legacy and standing on the shoulders of giants," Franita Tolson said in a statement.

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Law.com

Golden Gate University Law School Says It Plans to Stay Open for at Least the Next Academic Year

By Christine Charnosky | July 14, 2023

"In the clearest possible terms—no matter what course is chosen for our Law School—that GGU Law will continue to operate during the academic year 2023-24 and beyond as necessary to ensure at a minimum that all currently enrolled and entering students will continue to receive their scholarships and be able to receive an ABA-accredited degree," David J. Fike, GGU president, and Mark Yates, GGU Law dean, said in an email to the GGU Law community.

4 minute read

Texas Lawyer

AI in the Classroom: New Guidance From the Department of Education

By Andrew J. Droke and Melissa M. Grand | July 14, 2023

The Department of Education specifically identified risks with respect to data privacy and security, discrimination, unfair automated decision-making, and plagiarism.

4 minute read