header-logo header-logo

The circle of life

08 March 2012 / Jennifer James
Issue: 7504 / Categories: Blogs
printer mail-detail

Jennifer James reviews life on the legal treadmill

It’s that time of year again; the QC lists have come out and the select few are rightly preening themselves and preparing party lists, guest lists and a huge to-do list for life’s next career adventure. The legal profession sometimes puts me in mind of a vast treadmill, the sort of thing they used to operate in Reading Gaol, with Oscar Wilde at one end pedalling away like billyo while composing piqued Facebook messages to Lord Alfred Douglas. Seriously, though, doesn’t it sometimes feel as though it never ends?

Making the grade

You get your undergraduate degree and then you have to get onto a post-graduate law course in short order, lest your original qualification should go stale. You work your socks off at postgrad level, realising that this is your last best chance to get a serious leg up on the competition.

Alternatively, you have a large time and loaf around for a year intending to put in some serious cramming in the last

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

NEWS
Robert Taylor of 360 Law Services warns in this week's NLJ that adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) risks entrenching disadvantage for SME law firms, unless tools are tailored to their needs
The Court of Protection has ruled in Macpherson v Sunderland City Council that capacity must be presumed unless clearly rebutted. In this week's NLJ, Sam Karim KC and Sophie Hurst of Kings Chambers dissect the judgment and set out practical guidance for advisers faced with issues relating to retrospective capacity and/or assessments without an examination
Delays and dysfunction continue to mount in the county court, as revealed in a scathing Justice Committee report and under discussion this week by NLJ columnist Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School. Bulk claims—especially from private parking firms—are overwhelming the system, with 8,000 cases filed weekly
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
From oligarchs to cosmetic clinics, strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs) target journalists, activists and ordinary citizens with intimidating legal tactics. Writing in NLJ this week, Sadie Whittam of Lancaster University explores the weaponisation of litigation to silence critics
back-to-top-scroll