Proving that some good law-related things have been happening in the last year, though with slightly less categories than The Lawyer Awards which, like a kiddies party prize giveaway, seem designed to ensure most of the partygoers leave with something to smile about…

The shortlists for the Law Society’s Excellence Awards have been drawn up. The awards cover individual achievements such as best advocate and best junior solicitor, and also reward the achievements of law firms in areas like equality …

After having a reasonable an enviable results season, is the Magic Circle finally facing up to the fact that their clients might not be doing so well? The Lawyer reports that rates for the City’s big hitters have fallen by a third in the last twelve months from £680 an hour to £450. This is the first time top legal advisors have had to drop rates in years.

Even if the MC firms themselves don’t necessarily consider their latest results …

Getting arrested for cocaine possession would be a pretty miserable experience for any twenty-something. As for the parents, the news is likely to be greeted with a mixture of concern and embarrassment, especially so if mum happens to be a high-profile politician and dad a senior judge.

The son of the former Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt and William Birtles, a circuit judge, has been arrested and held in a police cell overnight after allegedly being caught with cocaine …

Lots of excitement erupted when the Guardian revealed that Clifford Chance’s female employees had an £90 allowance for underwear. However, it quickly became apparent that they weren’t trying to sex up their lady lawyers (in the spirit of fairnerss the so called ‘lingerie allowance’ actually applies to both men and women) and a specific policy with a £90 allowance was denied.

A spokesperson told Above the Law If an attorney is working hard and working late — perhaps at a …

We’re all for online communication obviously but how does this sound to traditional legal educators?

BPP Law School has taken another stride in opening up access to law by offering an online version of its Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree reports The Lawyer . The online offering costs around £10,800 and can be studied for two or three years full-time or for six years part-time.

BPP has gone for the ultra-flexible approach with the course enabling students to sign up on …

Green believers may have just acheived the same status as their religious counterparts when it comes to discrimination at work. An employment tribunal has decided that an employee had views amounting to a "philosophical belief in climate change", allowing him the same legal protection from discrimination as religious beliefs. The ruling comes just two years after the discrimination law was changed so that beliefs no longer had to be "similar" to religious faith.

Senior executive (former head of sustainability to …

The prize. Tax work.

As areas such as property have nosedived in the recession, law firms are looking at other more profitable areas to expand into. US firms have long competed with accountants when it comes to offering broader business advice to clients and now UK legal heavyweights are looking to hire non-lawyer tax specialists in a bid to take on the large accountancy firms. The Lawyer reports that and Allen & Overy, CMS Cameron McKenna and Linklaters are actively …

Lawyers using cocaine is not unheard of, but a partner having an impromptu session with some randoms in his office?

A former partner at Allan McDougall & Co, Grant O’Connor, pleaded guilty to supplying cocaine at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Thursday reports TheJournalOnline . O’Connor, 37, was given 150 hours’ community service after he admitted to supplying a man with cocaine after an evening drinking session. The court heard that O’Connor had met a group of men in a pub …

Has left.

A&O’s annual report has been published – The Lawyer points out that £2.3m went to its top earner this year but the sum included a termination payment. The departed partner got £200,000 more than that paid to the highest-earning partner the previous financial year, who also happened to be a leaver.

The report also shows it has paid out £19.6m to staff who have left as a result of the job cuts, with £26.4m going to affected partners – …

The recession may have seen the nation’s top firms still raking it in even with falling revenues but small firms are suffering on all fronts. If reduced work flow wasn’t bad enough, an increase in the threat of negligence claims has led to a corresponding increase in insurance premiums.

Thousands of Britain’s high street solicitors are facing crippling increases to the cost of their professional indemnity insurance because of the threat of negligence cases arising from the recession. Chaos …

Do education and profit provide a healthy mix? The sort of question to get policy-makers all hot under the collar is gradually being played out by one of our best known providers of legal education. When BPP agreed to a 620p-per-share offer from Apollo Global in June, the £303m takeover was the biggest buyout of a public company in the UK since the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year. It also signalled significant potential for change in UK higher …

Last week Cobbetts revealed that it was extending its part-time and flexible working arrangements in a bid to stave off further redundancies. The firm already had a number of fee earners in its corporate practice operating on a four-day week and now options such as job shares, sabbaticals and extended holidays at reduced pay are on the table.

This comes on the back of three redundancy rounds; the most recent, in October, affecting 61 fee earners and support staff. On …

That favorite of the tabloid media, the Hunting Act 2004 has reared its controversial head again. The surviving member of the Two Fat Ladies cooking programme, Clarissa Dickson-Wright , has been let off after pleading guilty to offences related to Hare coursing. The celebrity chef attended two events in North Yorkshire in March 2007, organised by the Yorkshire Greyhound Field Trialling Club and which involved two muzzled dogs. A private prosecution was brought by the International Fund for Animal …

You can’t make this stuff up.

The BBC reports that officers in Richmond, south-west London, are entering unlocked cars to remove valuables, such as handbags and laptops, leaving a note for the driver. So if you can’t beat them join them? We understand the logic operating here but this seems like a warped approach to solving the problem of property theft from cars. The term ‘nanny state’ is flogged regularly but it’s surely warranted in this case.

On the flip side …

Innovative use of legal doctrines – that what gets the lawyerly synapses sparking. Imagine that for the best part of a decade you brought up two children as your own only to find later that they weren’t yours but were fathered by your business associate. Apart from the emotional upheaval of such a realisation, think of all that cost. It might not be the first thing to enter the average mind but if you are a successful tycoon then …

They may have had one of the largest restructuring programmes with the most controversial moniker ("New World" in case you forgot) but there’s no denying Linklaters having a knack for coming out on top. And its a knack they like to impose in as many areas of their domain as possible.

Earlier this year, as the first quarter of 2009 crept to an end, we reported that the shrunken M&A market had a clear leader. Linklaters maintained its position from …

Reports the BBC – we have nothing more to add …

We are great believers in the benefits of internet communication obviously but there is a downside. Regulating what people publish and how they publish it is difficult to say the least. When the CyberMud gets slung in the States our American cousins lawyer up and sue each other . Over here using the internet to bully people has just been dealt a blow in our criminal courts. One nasty teen bully was given three months in a young …

The News of the World claims another high-profile scalp for drug use. Former Atomic Kitten, Kerry Catona, was cautioned by police yesterday after she was filmed by the Sunday newspaper snorting what appeared to be cocaine. Unlike many from the world of music, drugs have done no favours for Katona’s credibility.

As a mother of four and until recently, the face of supermarket Iceland; being seen snorting white powder through a £20 note just didn’t fit the image. The bankrupt …

First went the boardroom biscuits, then the associate layoffs started and finally, large scale restructuring saw partners getting canned in the maelstrom too…