Asia Pacific takes almost half of Ashurst promotions
Ashurst has announced 19 new partners with almost half from Asia Pacific.
Australia ties with the UK for the most promotions, seven each, while the offices Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, France and Spain have one new partner each.
The new Australian partners are: Stuart Dullard (corporate), Adam Firth (dispute resolution), Andrew Rankine (IP), Trent Sebbens (employment) and Kenneth Tang (banking) in Sydney; Andrew Gay (resources & utilities) in Perth; and Alyssa Phillips (competition) in Brisbane.
Chin Yeoh (corporate) in Hong Kong and Jean Woo (banking) in Singapore complete the nine promotions in Asia Pacific.
Corrs hires infrastructure team from Norton Rose Fulbright
Joshua Paffey and his team have joined Corrs Westgarth Chambers in Brisbane.
The infrastructure and projects partner was previously with Norton Rose Fulbright and has particular experience advising Korean companies on projects in Australia and throughout the Asia Pacific region.
He joins along with his team including special counsels Justin O'Callaghan, Scott Francis and Jennifer Barrett.
English solicitors to face new assessment
New solicitors in England & Wales are to face a new assessment examination which aims to ensure consistency of standards.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has announced that the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) will replace the current system of qualification which has various courses and exams.
The regulator says that a standard qualification will help boost public confidence and should also widen access to the profession by eliminating the expensive “gamble” of the Legal Practice Course which does not guarantee a training contract or becoming a solicitor.
The new system will allow a more flexible approach to a period of work-based experience, addressing the training contract bottleneck.
Responding to the change, the Law Society of England & Wales said that it welcomes a centralised assessment and the potential diversity it will help create.
However, it says that the new system must be realistic regarding work experience.
“The adequacy of the qualifying legal work experience must also be a key focus. The two-year period of work experience must be at an appropriate standard and sufficiently relevant to what the market requires,” said Law Society Robert Bourns.
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