In the latest bout, the College of Law has thrown a solid uppercut to BPP and reached an agreement with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton’s City arm for the College to become the firm’s exclusive provider of all three stages of training. Cleary trainees will be able to study the GDL, the LPC and the PSC in any of the College’s centres but most are expected to attend the one at Moorgate, where the LPC and PSC electives will …

As if the burden of student loans and other debt was not enough for graduating law students, how would you feel if you then had to pay for your training too?

If you think the idea sucks, you might not like the proposal floated last week by Dan Hull over at What About Clients :

If associates get all the benefits of training at my law firm in the first three years, and can’t really add much value anyway, why don’t …

The Shearman scandal early in the summer seems to have caused the biggest flurry of excitement when it comes to gossip in the British legal fraternity. Not to be outdone, it appears as though our friends across the water have a few scandals of their own.

According to Above the Law this latest tale, puts the "MoFo" in Morrison & Foerster.

" These kiddies are badass."

To cut the story a bit shorter MoFo hosted a firm-wide retreat in Napa, first-class all …

Heller Ehrman Silicon Valley partner Hal Milstein is leaving the firm to join West Coast rival Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton. Meanwhile, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft has suffered its second partner defection since the firm announced record layoffs earlier this summer. New York environmental litigator, Andrew Perel has defected to the New York office of Steptoe & Johnson.
News of Milstein’s exit from Heller comes amid continued speculation over the firm’s future  after its talks with Baker & McKenzie broke …

It appears New Orleans has narrowly avoided Gustav but some legal recruits may not be so lucky. US law firms, battered by the downturn and widespread layoffs, are preparing to make offers to second-year law students for the 2009 ­summer associate programme. ­Historically, at least 95 per cent of summer associates are hired the following autumn and as US firms traditionally make offers to the majority of their summer interns, decisions made over the next few weeks could ­determine the …

Following canoe-man John Darwin’s schoolboy error of publishing a photo of himself alive and well in Panama with his wife, you’d think other would-be scammers might have a bit more sense. Apparently not, from Breitbart…

Ahmad Akhtary ’s checkup, six months after he allegedly died in Afghanistan, scuttled his ex-wife’s attempt to collect 300,000 pounds (US$550,000) on a life insurance policy.

34-year-old Akhtary was sentenced to 60 hours of community service and his former wife, Anne Akhtary, to 40 hours of community …

A survey in The Lawyer, conducted by YouGovCentaur, shows that an overwhelming ­majority of business support staff – 64 per cent – did not feel that non-fee-earning roles are valued at their firm. It is claimed that they have been left feeling undervalued, underpaid and out of the loop. Anyone surprised by this?

Nick Woolf, a partner at headhunter Sainty Hird, who recruits lawyers and senior non-fee-earners, says: “It’s a shame, but I’m not surprised. Law firms are dominated by fee-­earners. Unfortunately a …

After some scorching results delivered at the end of the last financial year, first-quarter revenue growth at the UK’s top 100 firms is down massively on the same period last year, with the average coming in at just 6.3 per cent.

This might surprise you if you’ve been hiking in the Antarctic with a wooden sled and a pack of huskies for the last few months but for everyone else reality is beginning to bite.
A study from Deloitte revealed …

Whilst the likes of A&O may have initially tried to ban Facebook , it seems that some of the US firms are now seizing it as an opportunity to do some recruiting.

Fans of the site seem to have a mixed view of this exploitation – from ATL :

"Facebook just got a lot less cool, and a lot more LinkedIn. Watch out, for your firm may be coming to F-book soon.

A New Zealand judge has banned news websites from naming two men charged with murder while allowing newspapers, radio stations and TV networks to reveal who they are.

Judge David Harvey said online media could not use the names, or publish images of the accused, to prevent the public searching for the information when the case comes to trial.

He said he was “concerned about someone Googling someone’s name and being able to access it later”.

He was also “concerned about the …

Just one year after Australian law firm Slater & Gordon became the world’s first law firm to float. they have just announced a jump in turnover of 27 per cent to hit a revenue of AUS$79.7m (£37m)

Slater & Gordon recorded a 42 per cent growth in net profit over the same time period, while it also grew away from its personal injury core and into practices including commercial litigation and private …

 In the US woman has been arrested and handcuffed for failing to pay fines for two overdue library books. Heidi Dalibor, of Grafton, Wisconsin, admitted she had ignored calls and letters from her local library.

Heidi also admits she ignored a notice to appear in municipal court or pay the fine, reports the News Graphic.

But the boys in blue from the local Grafton police force had other ideas…

Allen & Overy (A&O) has rescued the former managing partner of struggling Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft’s Beijing office.

As reported by The American Lawyer Mark Roppel will join A&O from the struggling New York firm as a partner in its corporate practice

Roppel along with 5 Associates had headed Cadwalader’s Beijing office since 2006, will be based in Shanghai but will spread his time between Beijing and Hong Kong.

A trusting German had to jog two miles naked to a police station after a woman promised him sex and then ran off with his clothes.

Felix Adler, 40, said he met the 24-year-old woman in a bar in Cham in southern Germany and they walked to woods on the edge of town where she begged him to have sex.

Feeling imprisoned since your return from holidays, well, you’re not the only one; a pigeon has been put behind bars after being caught smuggling drugs into a high security jail in Bosnia reports Ananova :

"The bird is a pet of one of the inmates and it’s thought tiny bags containing heroin had been tied to its legs.

Wardens at Zenica prison grew suspicious when they noticed four prisoners becoming "visibly intoxicated" shortly after the pigeon was spotted landing on …

Not being done with a seemingly light sentence, Harry Shasho is suing the city of New York for damaging his Bentley.

The businessman, 38, who owns a car detailing shop in Coney Island, NY, is suing the city for damaging the Bentley he was driving when he killed a man from Brooklyn in a hit-and-run accident. He struck victim Louis (Pete) Couch and left the scene without stopping Oct. 1, 2005. He later surrendered to cops and was sentenced to …

With the end of the August Bank Holiday it feels like the end of the summer that never was. At least Brits won’t be missing the sunshine. We know how happy lawyers are with their lot but if you are feeling a bit miserable have a look at this for a chuckle or read the following bit of wholesome advice we unearthed from the BBC :

A Monday morning after a holiday can be a cause for even …

James Boppre broke all the rules of house arrest when he went for a late-night drive in his pickup truck last month.He did not observe his curfew.

He did not remain sober.

He did not keep the peace.

And as he crashed into a…

Iwan Hnylycia from Warrington was found hanged in the stables of his home.

The Manchester Evening News reported that: "an inquest was told the 47-year-old had been stressed about work, hadn’t slept for weeks and had told his doctor he’d had thoughts of self-harm.

Mrs Hnylycia, 47, told the inquest in Warrington he was ‘beside himself with worry’ about pressures at work."

As the excitement of another hot Summer draws to a close and firms say goodbye to the last of their summer students, what tales of woe have been left behind?

Unless you have been on a very long holiday over the last few weeks you cannot have avoided news of the Shearman associate sacking. There has been much coverage and debate over the reaction to this, feel free to join in.

In the meantime…