Legal Education

Withers signs up to exclusive training deal with BPP

By Legal Week | July 21, 2009

BPP Law School has announced a tie-up with Withers which will see the City firm send its trainees to the school to study the Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course (LPC). Withers trainees will study the courses at BPP's centres in London, Leeds or Manchester, attending lectures and tutorials alongside students with training contracts at other firms.

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Twelve firms sign up for College of Law disputes training

By Legal Week | July 17, 2009

Twelve City law firms have signed up to the College of Law's dispute resolution training consortium. The programme of twelve courses concentrates on the basics of litigation and alternative dispute resolution, and will be taught to lawyers from zero to three years' post qualification experience. It follows similar pooled training programmes that have been introduced during recent years in the areas of corporate, property and banking.

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Career Clinic: Will I get substandard training during the downturn?

By Legal Week | April 8, 2009

"My firm has offered me and my fellow trainees scheduled to begin in September 2009 a sum of money to defer for a year. I am anxious to begin my legal career and I'm not looking forward to a year of unrelated work."However, if I opt to reject the offer to defer, will the quality of training I receive suffer due to the reduced work levels at the firm during the downturn? I am also afraid that rejecting the deferral offer may harm my chances of being offered a NQ position down the line. Are these fears justified?"

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Training and education: Point of entry

By Legal Week | March 18, 2009

The effects of the Solicitors Regulation Authority's (SRA's) latest overhaul of the Legal Practice Course (LPC) will begin to be felt by students and legal service providers during the next two years.Although some LPC providers will implement the new LPC in 2009, most will adopt them in 2010 - the SRA's intended implementation date. The changes that are to be made to the LPC are designed to widen entry into the legal profession by enabling providers to potentially offer students a more flexible way of studying. However, this myriad of new possibilities may have left students and legal service providers feeling confused. Comments on web pages show that students are debating which route they should take; what the cost of the new LPC will be; how long it will take to complete the new LPC; and what will happen when LPC places outnumber training contracts.

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Training and education: Lessons for the future

By Legal Week | March 18, 2009

Last week we unveiled to our future trainees what we see as a groundbreaking approach in their development: a fully-fledged MBA me with BPP's Business School. Why is Simmons & Simmons doing this? Given the current economic climate, there was a need to give real consideration to our staffing needs. As a firm we actively manage our business, and ensuring that we have the right number of trainees at the right time is key to this. This year presented a unique challenge, given the changes in the market that have occurred since hiring our 2010 trainees. At the end of last year we asked our March 2009 intake if they would like to consider deferring. Many firms now seem to be thinking along the same lines for their September 2009 intake.

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Training and education: Training partners

By Legal Week | March 18, 2009

I am just coming up to the end of my first term as managing partner of Rickerbys, a 19-partner, Cheltenham-based practice serving both commercial and private clients throughout our region. Despite the challenges brought on by the current economic climate and the pace of change resulting from the Legal Services Act (LSA), I am looking forward to my second term.Prior to being appointed managing partner, I had spent the previous 15 years as a fee earner and subsequently partner in the corporate and commercial team at the firm. I had little prior knowledge or experience of management other than of a small group of fee earners and my secretary.

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Training and education: E for education

By Legal Week | March 18, 2009

Staff training and development is a necessary element of any industry, but its role within the legal profession is paramount. Be it professional skills development, keeping up to date with changing law and legislation, new employee induction or the infamous health and safety awareness, training can require huge amounts of investment, both in terms of time and financially. It is essential that employees are provided with the training necessary to perform their roles effectively and meet compliance requirements. But to ensure staff development is effective, and doesn't cost the earth, what measures need to be in place to make sure you're getting the most from your training spend? And what does the future of training in the legal profession hold in terms of learning methods and approaches?

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Training and education: The learning curve

By Legal Week | March 18, 2009

It is a truism that lawyers are the ultimate knowledge workers. In maintaining that position the depth and, importantly, the currency, of a lawyer's understanding form the knowledge bedrock on which their practice is built. However, how lawyers learn and what they learn is changing. Externally, in-house counsel and the organisations that employ them are reviewing their roles.A recent review of training needs shows the pressure on in-housecounsel - as a result of the recent economic upheavals and subsequent corporate insolvencies - to take a wider role as an active risk manager, who is also expected to be the guardian of a company's ethics and its reputation. Where this results in a seat on the main board, the role is no longer that of the traditional detached and reactive legal adviser.

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Pinsents starts UAE law student training scheme

By Legal Week | December 3, 2008

Pinsent Masons has teamed up with the United Arab Emirates University to give local law students a chance to train with the firm in the UK. The firm has operated in Dubai since 2004 and will offer UAE University College of Law students the chance to develop skills across areas including commercial, property, outsourcing and Dubai law. The scheme, initially limited to two students, is not a full training contract but will run between January and February and June and July. Students will spend the rest of the summer in one of the firm's UK offices.

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International Edition

Camerons and CMS bolster training options

By Charlotte Edmond | November 27, 2008

CMS Cameron McKenna and its European alliance firms are set to roll out a training course for partners and associates, in the latest effort to increase unity across the network. From next March, partners and associates at all nine CMS firms can sign up for a series of week-long training courses run by business school IMD.The course, aimed at boosting lawyers' commercial knowledge, will be run in modules, similar to a mini-MBA, through the group's existing 'CMS academy'.

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Law.com

Howard University Appoints Interim Law Dean

By Christine Charnosky | July 6, 2023

"I applaud Dean Crooms-Robinson on her years of service to her alma mater and her appointment as interim dean of the School of Law," Wayne A.I. Frederick, president of Howard University, said in a statement.

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Law.com

Circuit Court Judge to Become Next Dean of St. Thomas University Law

By Christine Charnosky | July 5, 2023

"I look forward to this next chapter with STU as we embark upon our mission to serve, uplift and empower our next generation of lawyers to strive for excellence and accountability to our legal community and beyond," Judge Tarlika Nunez-Navarro said in a statement.

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Law.com

Law Dean of Washington University in St. Louis to Step Down Next Year

By Christine Charnosky | July 5, 2023

"With the School of Law's commitment to equipping students with the skills to practice law and pursue justice in a globally interconnected legal environment, our next dean will have much to focus on," Chancellor Andrew D. Martin said in a statement.

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New Jersey Law Journal

'Winning Isn't Everything': July Fourth and Changing American Values

By Roy D. Curnow | July 4, 2023

Based upon recent data, attorney well-being is at an all-time low. The survey suggests that we are overwhelmed, overstressed and afflicted with what many describe as "busyness." Our response to "how's it going?" is often a sarcastic "living the dream!"

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Law.com

Ukrainian NGO Urges Lawyers to Provide Expertise to Fleeing Civilians

By Mason Lawlor | June 30, 2023

"My experience is that lawyers often have the best qualifications and skillsets," said Rachel Jamison, director of Safe Passage 4 Ukraine. "We're trained to do a very difficult thing, which is to put aside emotion; to work in a client's best interests, and to put mission first."

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Law.com

'Judges Live in a Bubble': Panelists Say Jurists Should Explain Court Procedures to Journalists

By Christine Charnosky | June 30, 2023

"[I]t's important for us also to be mindful when we are communicating through our written opinions ... to be clear and maybe not treat every opinion like a law review article," Bernice B. Donald, a retired federal judge, said.

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Law.com

Twinette Johnson Named Permanent Dean of UDC Law

By Christine Charnosky | June 29, 2023

Twinette Johnson "is a visionary and inclusive academic leader who will build on the strengths of the David A. Clarke School of Law's reputation across the District of Columbia and the nation in concert with the faculty, students, staff and alums," Lawrence T. Potter Jr., UDC's chief academic officer, said in a statement.

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Law.com

'Schools Still Have Ample Power': Legal Academia Disappointed—But Undeterred—by SCOTUS Affirmative Action Ruling

By Christine Charnosky | June 29, 2023

"In the market for legal talent, major American law firms are clamoring for diversity, for a variety of good reasons, but also because their Fortune 500 clients are demanding that their cases be staffed with attorneys from diverse backgrounds," said Kevin K. Washburn, N. William Hines dean and professor of law at the University of Iowa College of Law. "This market demand remains strong, [so] law schools will find lawful ways to meet that demand."

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Law.com

Ahead of the Curve: Can Law School Rankings Predict Future Career Satisfaction?

By Christine Charnosky | June 28, 2023

In this week's column, we are looking again at U.S. News law school rankings, as well as the recent rankings done by Above the Law, to determine what, if anything, they say about future job satisfaction.

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New York Law Journal

University of Buffalo Announces Interim Law Dean

By Christine Charnosky | June 28, 2023

"We are grateful to Professor Brown for his leadership and service during this transitional period, during which time I will launch a national search for the next dean of the School of Law," A. Scott Weber, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs said in an email to the campus last week, according to the school's announcement.

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