A YEAR IN THE LAW 2016-17
turn has prompted concern from academics such as Richard Moorhead, who has argued that introducing the SQE to separate the qualifying assessment from the LPC could lead to a two-tiered legal education system. Moorhead predicted that one tier would be Russell Group universities and other institutions seeking to protect the value of the law degree and LPC to employers – particularly the top law firms, which are set to continue favouring traditional training contracts. On the other tier, Moorhead argues, would be found all the other education providers teaching prep courses for the SQE. He points out that this separation may actually damage the diversity of the profession more than the current system: “Unless the SQE assessment proves spectacularly successful at upsetting perceptions of law school hierarchy among law firms, then the SQE is likely to enforce a segmentation of the legal education market which will reinforce and exacerbate existing problems within the recruitment market for trainees.” What the SQE’s ultimate impact will be remains to be seen. To the Bar? With the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) costing around £19,000 in 2017 and only 39% of those who pass ever going on to become barristers, it is understandable that there have been sustained calls for reform in recent years. The Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) Future Bar Training Consultation has been examining
ways to make training more affordable and flexible, which it is hoped would make careers at the Bar more accessible to people from diverse backgrounds while maintaining the high standards required. For now, the BPTC is set to remain in place unchanged, while the future of the Bar Course Aptitude Test (an exam which must be passed in order to be allowed onto the BPTC) has also been guaranteed. However, there could soon be more than one way to train as a barrister, with the BSB considering proposals which could be in place as early as Autumn 2018 – watch this space. Moving forward Shaking off the legal profession’s long-held reputation for being dominated by wealthy, privately educated white men is a long and ongoing process, but the last year has seen some good news for all those who don’t fit into that narrow demographic. One of the main progressive legal stories of 2017 is that a woman – Baroness Hale – has been elected president of the Supreme Court for the first time in its history, with a new policy of ensuring that a diverse range of candidates are considered for senior judicial roles hopefully meaning that this is just the start. Given that three male Supreme Court justices are set to reach retirement age in 2018 – Lords Hughes, Mance and Sumption – there may soon be further opportunities to ensure that the judiciary better reflects the society it serves.
Progress has been even more marked in the solicitors’ profession, with law firms featuring heavily in gay rights charity Stonewall’s Global Workplace Equality Index for 2017. Of the 12 organisations to be celebrated for their work to create inclusive workplaces, five were City firms – Baker McKenzie, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Herbert Smith Freehills, Pinsent Masons and Simmons & Simmons. ignominious collapse of one major law firm – RIP King & Wood Mallesons – it was more notable for a series of high- end mergers, as firms continue trying to exploit new markets or to consolidate their practices. Eversheds merged with US firm Sutherland Asbill & Brennan at the tail end of 2016, giving transatlantic reach to a firm that was already one of the largest in the United Kingdom. May saw one of the biggest ever UK legal mergers, as CMS joined with Olswang and Nabarro to create a new ‘super firm’ (trading simply as ‘CMS’ for now) of 5,000 lawyers across 39 countries. Elsewhere, DWF launched in France through a merger with Heenan Paris, continuing its expansion outside the United Kingdom, while in the South of England Coffin Mew cemented its position as a regional leader by merging with Charles Lucas & Marshall. Merger on the dancefloor While 2017 saw the high-profile, Law please In January 2017 the government pardoned thousands of gay men who had been convicted under archaic
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Best in Law 2017
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