The College of Law has taken another scalp in the battle to get exclusive sign-ups with law firms. Denton Wilde Sapte agreed to send all of its future trainees to study exclusively with the CoL.

From September, the CoL will deliver both the Legal Practice Course and the Graduate Diploma in Law for Dentons future trainees. Dentons’ young blood will be allowed to study at any of the College’s five centres in the UK.

More Law School news:

BPP and College of …

For some of you this may be a pertinent question, others may wish that they had received the wisdom of this particular answer a little earlier. Either way it raises some interesting points. Mark Steinberg, a retired Los Angeles attorney, wrote an essay addressing the subject for his son Matt on his graduation from high school in 1999 which he recently published on Lawdragon . The issues he discusses apply to a career in law generally so don’t be …

Last month we noted that UK firms have been finding things pretty tough with cash squeezes and the odd cash call to partners. Keeping things in perspective though was Legally India’s report that one of India’s major legal players, FoxMandal Little , was unable to pay fee-earners in Delhi their salaries as the office faced a liquidity crisis.

Well that crisis went on for two months before fee-earners finally got paid. Legally India now reports that FoxMandal managing partner Som …

Sometimes being one of the most famous musicians alive just isn’t enough recognition. Bob Dylan was stopped by police in in Long Branch, New Jersey, recently. The police were responding to a call about a suspicious person roaming the neighborhood. According to CNN , Long Branch Police Department Sgt. Michael Ahart, said that Dylan had been peering into a window of a house that was for sale, which prompted a neighbor to call the police on July 23. The …

The two law grads accused of trying to make a fraudulent insurance claim whislt travelling through Rio de Janeiro are reported to have made a partial admission of guilt. Shanti Andrews and Rebecca Turner told a court they were robbed, but exaggerated the theft to increase the claim. They were said to have told police that goods worth £1,000 were stolen from them during a bus journey in Brazil but are now reported to have admitted falsely claiming some of …

The Victoria University of Melbourne is reeling from allegations published in the Australian that a 46-year-old law lecturer solicited and received bribes in the form of sexual favours and money from some female Asian international students, offering in return to improve their marks.

The man is believed to have taken his own life before police could interview him, apparently overdosing on prescription drugs at his home at Footscray, Melbourne.

According to the Australian police were preparing a brief including 10 bribery …

Laid off recently? Trying to retain some semblance of sanity by interacting with other beings during the search for jobs/endless days surfing the net. Here’s some useful tips to ensure that your local coffee shop proprietor doesn’t resent your presence as much as the homeless guy who sleeps in the doorway:

1.  Always buy something, preferably more than you would if you weren’t using the space. Obviously.

2.  Don’t be a table hog. When the coffee shop fills …

University and law school should have taught wannabee lawyers a few things at least. Amongst them you’d hope for a bit of case analysis, some litigation techniques and legal research skills, but they normally overlook one important area: the practical realities that exist within a firm.

Cynisism aside for a minute, most new associates love being lawyers, or at least should for a while , and generally their first and foremost goal is to become a great lawyer. Over …

In Virginia, Prince William County Police responded to a noise complaint at a child’s baptism party. By the time they left, a grandfather and a pregnant woman had been Tasered. fox

A plaintiff has issued a claim against LucasFilm, alleging racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and wrongful termination, and complaining that LucasFilm employees called her, among other things an Ewok. Lowering the Bar

Michael John Marriott, 58, of Burnie, Tasmania, has been found guilty of having sex with his own wife. He …

You won’t hear that from most lawyers. Associates facing endless days and nights slaving at the coal face probably feel more like the opposite is true some days. And even the keenest lawyer is unlikely to see themselves working much past the state retirement age (it’s anyones’ guess what that’ll be in 30-40 years time).

So who would make such a claim. Last week 101 year old tobbacco-chewing Jack Borden, a lawyer from Texas, was awarded the …

The arrival of 40 tall ships is likely to cause quite a stir in Belfast over the next day or so. Thousands will celebrate with a four-day festival so quite a party to be had. An innocuous enough occasion as far as lawyers are concerned then? Unfortunately not, the tall ships have hit more than the odd Atlantic storm getting there including, surprise surprise, one involving lawyers. The Old Salt Blog reports:

"The age of wooden ships and iron men …

Michael Douglas is famed for many on-screen roles, not least his dogmatic cop role in Basic Instinct and his role as the drug-tzar father of a smacked out teen in Traffic . Both of which make the fate of his son sadly ironic. Following his arrest last month for selling drugs Reuters reports that:

Cameron Douglas, 30, a sometimes actor who appeared with his father and grandfather Kirk Douglas in "It Runs in the Family," is accused of selling tens …

So a firm collapses, the administrators roll in and the unsecured creditors wait in hope to get some of their cash back. Trouble is, once the curtains come down, all the dirty insides start to show up in the sunlight. The Gazette has revealed that collapsed firm Fox Hayes went under owing nearly £1m to the FSA for an unpaid fine relating to a £15m boiler room fraud it was involved in.

The City regulator fined Fox Hayes in February …

Surveillance State, the fear the fear. What of it really? Your average lawyer surely has little to fear from an invasive state – mostly law abiding, comparatively well-off and armed with a heightened understanding of the legal system. Surely it’s a greater problem for other people more likely to get caught out and with less means to resolve the consequences.

Maybe, maybe not – figures released in a report by the Interception of Communications Commissioner showed that more than 500,000 …

The Law Society of Scotland has introduced a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff. Having introduced a pay freeze earlier this year and restrictions on external recruitment, the Society has taken another step to ensure that it meets the challenges of the recession by introducing a voluntary redundancy scheme for staff. The voluntary redundancy offer follows the completion of the Society’s corporate planning and budget process for the coming year.

In a press release , Chief Executive, Lorna Jack said …

The gloves are off in the war to attract the country’s top student talent. As commercial law firms retreat into the salary bunker through the downturn, barristers chambers are seizing the opportunity to stage a forward charge. After One Essex Court in the Temple announced last week that it was making offers to students of £60,000 a year for their two-year pupillage starting in October next year, a trend has emerged.

Essex Court Chambers is understood to be increasing its …

It might wash for avoiding a trip to the in-laws or postponing a return to the rigours of legal practice for a few days but there are limits. This week the Sydney Morning Herald reported that New Zealand Judge Kevin Phillips told Queenstown District Court he was sick to death of the potentially deadly H1N1 virus being used as a defence.

The Kiwi judge’s outburst came during a claim by a drink driver that swine flu made her more susceptible …

Being instructed by tricky clients always comes with an additional level of stress. To the sort of clients that continually change the goalposts or regularly seek escape-routes half way through transactions, you can look like the doormat in the fire escape. In these circumstances it’s normally wise to sharpen your arse-covering efforts to the max and ensure that even the tiniest client whisper is noted on the file.

It’s one thing representing wiley entrepreneurs or seasoned businessmen with a habit …

A rather unusual memo has been leaked to US blog Above the Law from the Californian office of international firm Jones Day . As JD associates the world over survey the wreckage of other firms that lie around them, they can be thankful that their own firm’s culture has kept them safe – by not "protecting partners’ incomes on the corpses of associates and staff." Here are some illuminating extracts of partner Joe Sims’ memo from ATL:

First, who we …

You either love them or you loathe them…

For the lovers, they will be pleased to know that Crocs has recently settled a number of design defect lawsuits rather than contest allegations that its uber popular and brightly coloured foam rubber clogs are unsafe for children to wear on moving escalators. On Point states that since February 2008, parents of at least 11 children allegedly injured when their clogs got caught in escalators sued Crocs for product liability, breach of …