Law training experts join influencers, academics and mental health charity leader at Legal Cheek’s annual in-person conference From top left to bottom right: Patrick McCann, Chair of City of London Law Society Training Committee; Aikanah Robinson, Legal Cheek AI Ambassador; Jane Robson, CEO at the National Association of Licensed Paralegals; Lucy Dolan, Early Talent Manager at Gowling WLG; James Catchpole, Associate Professor and Head of Professional Programmes at City, University of London; Omotayo Anifowoshe, ‘The SQE Babe’ legal influencer; Elizabeth Rimmer, Chief Executive of LawCare; Meg ..read more

Jailed last year after trying to buy drugs from clients Henry Hendron A barrister who was handed a 14-month prison term after trying to buy drugs from his clients has failed in an appeal against his sentence. Henry Hendron was sentenced last year after admitting to three counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence and one count of possessing a class A drug. “The facts of this case are unique. It is to be hoped that remains the case,” the Court of Appeal began when considering Hendron’s appeal. The court noted “two features of this case which are both unusual ..read more

No binding contract, judge finds A former trainee solicitor has been unsuccessful in her attempt to recover the costs she incurred in preparing for and sitting the Solicitor Qualifying Exam (SQE) from her former firm. Sophie Ashley began her employment at London firm Grayfords in August 2021 as a paralegal. In October of that year, she was offered a training contract by the firm’s senior partner, Sheata Karim, who also agreed that the firm would cover the SQE examination fees, provided that she continued to work at the firm for a period after qualifying. The duration of this period was to be ..read more

Told they’d failed SQE1 when actually they’d passed Students who had their training contract offers rescinded are among those hit by Kaplan’s SQE1 marking error, Legal Cheek can exclusively reveal. Yesterday, we reported that 175 students, who were initially informed they had failed either Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 and/or Functioning Legal Knowledge 2 (the two parts of SQE1), had actually passed those assessments. Both Kaplan and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) apologised for the extraordinary blunder, attributing it to a rounding error in the calculation of the final scores. B ..read more

56% successfully navigated latest sitting News that the percentage of students passing SQE1 has risen slightly is unlikely to quell anger over a significant exam blunder by Kaplan which led to 175 students being told they had failed, when they had in fact passed. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) latest statistical report looks at the results of students who sat papers in January this year. Of the 6,061 candidates who attempted the exams earlier this year, 56% passed. This is a slight increase on the previous sitting where 53% were successful, higher again than last January which s ..read more

Mix of concern and anger Senior figures at some of the country’s biggest law schools have responded to this morning’s news that nearly 200 aspiring lawyers were mistakenly told they had failed parts of the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE). Kaplan and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) today apologised for a calculation error that resulted in 175 students being informed that they had failed either Functioning Legal Knowledge 1 and/or Functioning Legal Knowledge 2 (the two parts of SQE1), when in fact they had passed. A goodwill payment of £250 is being offered to those candidate ..read more

Questions remain over whether blunder led to TC offer cancellations Kaplan and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have apologised this morning after it emerged that 175 students were incorrectly told they had failed parts of their Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) assessments. The results for the January 2024 SQE1 assessments have been “reissued” to correct an error by Kaplan in the calculation of students’ scores. The issue came to light as result of students appealing their original scores. As a result of the error, 175 students who were originally told that they had failed ei ..read more

The top legal affairs news stories from this morning and the weekend ‘The criminal justice system has almost completely collapsed’, says leading women’s rights lawyer [Telegraph] (£) English civil law has become a luxury good beyond the reach of most of us [The Spectator] (free, but registration required) Manchester Arena attack survivors and relatives take legal action against MI5 [The Guardian] Euthanasia laws are on the agenda but let’s take our time [The Times] (£) Trial lawyer ‘repeatedly crossed line’ with rape survivor [BBC News] The latest comments from across Legal Cheek Legal chang ..read more

Sir Andrew McFarlane unpersuaded A leading family law firm inadvertently acquired a final divorce order for a client due to what was described as “clicking the wrong button”. Vardags’ subsequent application to set aside the order, made without its clients actual consent, was rejected by president of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane. The parties in the case separated in January 2023 after a marriage of more than 21 years. Whilst the wife could have applied for a final order of divorce from 21 September 2023, she had not in fact given consent to do so, the High Court heard. Vardags arg ..read more

Recognising efforts across the legal profession A new ‘Pro Bono Recognition List’ has been launched to recognise the pro bono contributions made by lawyers from all corners of the profession — and its received backing from the Lady Chief Justice. Open to registered solicitors and barristers, both in private practice and in-house, individuals are able to submit their names to join the list if they have completed 25 hours or more of pro bono within the previous calendar year. Endorsed by LCJ, Baroness Sue Carr, the initiative aims to “shine a light on the individual lawyers at firms and organi ..read more