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Kerry Phillip, lawyer at The Legal Director, reflects on her 30 years of experience in regulated multinationals, small companies and law firms, and discusses the struggles of transitioning from lawyer to leader

Law firms and legal departments may need to do more to bring their workforce up to speed on artificial intelligence (AI), according to the Future Lawyers Report 2025, published last week.

Early-stage career and recently qualified solicitors and barristers should have their laptops at the ready this Valentine’s Day, when the much-sought-after High Court Judicial Assistant Scheme opens for applications.

The government is considering cutting funding for level 7 apprenticeships, which could ‘seriously impact social mobility in the legal profession’, Rhicha Kapila, partner and chief operating officer at Bolt Burdon Kemp, writes in this week’s NLJ. Level 7, the highest level of apprenticeships, ‘create a qualification path for graduates’ that allows them to be paid while they train.

Cutting apprenticeships is a step backwards for the profession & for social mobility, says Rhicha Kapila

The responsibilities of paralegals have expanded considerably, as have their career options, Amanda Hamilton, Patron of the National Association of Licensed Paralegals, writes in this week’s NLJ. Some use the experience as a stepping stone into a career as solicitor or barrister, while others develop a specialism in a particular area.

From finding a niche to going freelance, Amanda Hamilton sets out the increasing range of career options available to paralegals

Celebrations were taking place across the Bar last week as 105 new silks received the good news.

Submissions have opened for the 2025 Pro Bono Recognition List of England and Wales.

Fancy a life in crime? The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is currently looking for trainee solicitors and pupil barristers.

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

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DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Senior appointments in insurance services and commercial services announced

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Aviation disputes practice strengthened by London partner hire

Ellisons—Marion Knocker

Residential property lawyer promoted to partnership

NEWS

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NLJ this week: Renters’ Rights revolution begins—brace for tribunal chaos

he abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

NLJ this week: Civil procedure gets a spring overhaul

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation

NLJ this week: Why GP complaints are going nowhere

Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group

NLJ this week: Prenups meet a jurisdictional brick wall

A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision

NLJ this week: Has Rylands v Fletcher come back from the dead?

An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading

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Career focus

MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Abbott & Claire Keat

Clyde & Co—Nick Roberts

Ellisons—Marion Knocker