Law school enrolment at 40 year low
A report from the American Bar Association shows that law school enrolment for first-year students has hit a 40-year low for accredited schools and a 27-year low overall. Year-on-year the figures show a 6.9 per cent drop in enrolment in accredited schools while just 4 years ago saw a record high. The ABA’s president William Hubbard told Bloomberg that students were being put off by media reports of lower job prospects in the profession. However Hubbard, a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, says he expects the situation to improve due to the high proportion of older lawyers approaching retirement who will need successors.
Herbert Smith Freehills partners predict the future
Herbert Smith Freehills corporate partners Tony Damian and Rodd Levy have released their annual top 10 M&A predictions for the coming year. They expect increased M&A over the coming 12 months especially in the property, resources and financial services sectors. They also predict that China will feature heavily with regulatory reforms and more interest in acquiring Australian firms and they see greater focus on bidder risk from target companies. You can read their full list of predictions on the HSF website.
Lawyers stage ‘die-ins’ at courthouses over inequality
Hundreds of lawyers and others from the legal profession are staging ‘die-ins’ at US courthouses to protest at unfair treatment. The lawyers say that the legal system in the country fails people of colour and those that are victims of police brutality. The protests are in response to recent high-profile deaths including the shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner who died having been held in a chokehold by an officer. The die-ins have so far been held in Los Angeles and New York and more are expected in San Francisco and Philadelphia and aim to show that all parts of society are outraged by what has happened.
