‘Totally inappropriate’ A barrister has been ordered to pay almost £7,000 in wasted costs after attempting to conduct the first day of an employment tribunal hearing while travelling on trains in Germany. Michael Engelhardt-Sprack had been given permission to appear…
90% Mills & Reeve has posted an autumn trainee retention score of 90%, keeping on 26 of its 29 qualifying trainees. The 29-strong group is the firm’s largest ever qualifying cohort, with those staying on spread across six of its…
Big pay, long hours Legal Cheek’s latest Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, based on more than 2,000 anonymous responses from trainees and junior lawyers across 110+ firms, revealed a strikingly varied picture of working life across the profession, from 12-hour-plus…
The top legal affairs news stories from this morning and the weekend AI wrecking ball fractures billable-hour fee model [Financial Times] (£) London’s investment bankers and lawyers make more than £1bn in takeover frenzy [The Guardian] Private equity could revolutionise…
Drops next week Credit: HBO A new legal drama is set to take viewers inside the cutthroat world of London’s most elite law firms as two rival outfits battle it out over a blockbuster divorce case. War, an eight-part series…
Another major firm relocates Akin has swapped Spitalfields for shiny new City digs at 155 Bishopsgate, with upgraded tech, collaboration spaces and “first-class amenities” among the perks. The move follows a period of sustained growth for Akin’s London office, where…
Recovering from operation A judge who heard an optician’s disciplinary appeal from his bed just a day after returning from hospital should have left the case to someone else, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Richard Clayton KC, sitting as…
Supports real living wage instead The Law Society has moved away from its annual recommended minimum salary for trainee solicitors, instead suggesting firms consider paying trainees at least the ‘real living wage’. Until now, the solicitors’ body had published a…
As pay reaches record levels across parts of the profession, Legal Cheek takes a fresh look at how working days compare across the market For aspiring lawyers, the attractions of a career in City law are obvious: big-name clients, high-profile…
Targeted ex-partner A former paralegal has been barred from working in the legal profession after being convicted of witness intimidation. Richard Melfi-Wroe pleaded guilty to two counts of witness intimidation in February 2025, according to the SRA decision. The offences…