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The Cambridge Law Review (CLR) is now inviting submissions for Volume 11, Issue 2 of the CLR, which will be published in Autumn 2026. 

We are also delighted to announce that this year, Serle Court, a leading commercial chancery barristers’ chambers, will continue to sponsor a £500 prize for the best submission to the volume, on any English commercial law and/or equity topic. All submissions meeting the theme will automatically be included in the adjudication of the prize, which will be undertaken by the Editorial Board, who will announce the winner in the following Issue.

The CLR is an independent legal journal run by students at the University of Cambridge. Its aim is to provide a forum for the discussion of contemporary and cutting-edge legal issues. For more information about the CLR, please visit: www.cambridgelawreview.org

To submit an article, please read our Submission Guidelines and fill in the online submission form: www.cambridgelawreview.org/submit

The deadline for submissions is 23:59 (UK time) on 30 June 2026 (Tuesday).

Please find attached a Word document containing further information. For any questions, please contact the Editors-in-Chief (Thomas Loke and Kaden Pradhan) at managing-board@cambridgelawreview.org

You can also find further information online (external link).

• Title: Assistant to a barrister
• Working for: Media and human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers
• Location: London Contract: Immediate ad hoc shifts with regular part-time/full-time work available going forward.
• Renumeration: Introductory rate: £15 p/h. Regular rate significantly more, depending on training and experience. Self-employed.

The role The barrister’s work is centred around media and communications law (with a particular emphasis on defamation and privacy), public law (including asylum and immigration), and human rights. Many of the cases which the assistant will work directly on are of political and social significance. The barrister is also heavily involved in policy and campaigning work on disability rights at the Bar and in the justice system. The barrister is disabled and engages assistants to support them in managing their disabilities as part of their fast paced and complex practice. Work will take place in person between Doughty Street Chambers and the barrister’s home office in Hackney.

The assistant will be involved in complex factual and legal cases where outstanding intellectual ability is beneficial. Previous legal work experience and legal education, especially the Bar Course, is desirable but not essential. Successful candidates will usually have completed a law degree or the GDL, but exceptional candidates will be considered without that. Although the role has been successfully held by people in a range of situations, it is often held by those looking to obtain or waiting to start pupillage/training contracts. Previous occupiers of the role have gone on to secure these roles and other exciting opportunities in law and civil society/public affairs.

Key duties and responsibilities

1. Supporting the barrister in every aspect of their case work including intensive case preparation, complex legal research, document collation and organisation, strategic decision-making within litigation, and drafting

2. Attending court, conferences and professional meetings with the barrister including arranging access and other adjustments

3. Fast and accurate contemporaneous notetaking, including in court hearings and conferences

4. Written and oral communication with solicitors, clerks and chambers staff, and barristers on a range of case and other professional matters

5. Assisting with IT set up and management (in Chambers and at the barrister’s home office) including set up for remote video court hearings and conferences

6. Keeping track of projects and deadlines, and supporting the barrister in complex time management, including the sensitive and appropriate prioritisation of multiple and competing demands and time recording

7. Supporting the barrister in practice management, including activity relating to billing, practice development and marketing, and assessing capacity to accept new instructions.

Essential skills and attributes

1. Capacity to support a high performing professional with multiple disabilities in high pressure, challenging and multifaceted work

2. Excellent academic/intellectual/analytical ability, including being adept at quickly becoming familiar and getting to grips with complex factual and legal scenarios and issues

3. High degree of flexibility and resilience. Working hours and shifts can be long, irregular, and unpredictable, depending on court, other demands and deadlines (including balancing competing and developing deadlines)

4. Legal and factual research aptitude

5. Strong oral and written communication skills

6. Attention to detail and excellent spelling and grammar

7. Excellent time management and organisation, especially under pressure

8. Initiative and discretion when problem-solving in professional contexts

9. Good judgement and common sense

10. Strong interpersonal skills and professionalism when engaging with individuals within the legal profession and justice system

11. Ability to work closely and build a relationship of trust and partnership with the barrister in demanding environments

Desirable (not essential) skills and attributes

1. Bar Course graduate

2. Experience of working as a barrister/pupil, solicitor/trainee, or paralegal, or working with barristers or solicitors, or other legal practice related experience

3. Other legal education/training and relevant work experience

4. Experience with legal research tools such as Westlaw and Lexis and an ability to learn to work with other platforms and AI.

5. A good knowledge or strong interest in media and communications law and the media (including social media) and/or public law and/or human rights law and/or disability rights

6. Knowledge of civil procedure

7. Experience of working closely as an assistant/adviser to someone in a high pressure/contentious public, political or business role

8. Experience of supporting disabled people in a professional environment

9. UK Driving Licence

Applications and start dates

Shifts are immediately available (potentially leading to regular part-time/full-time work). Applications will be considered on a rolling basis, so candidates are encouraged to apply early.

Applications consisting of a CV and covering letter should be emailed to assistant@doughtystreet.co.uk

Applicants should indicate whether they are interested in ad hoc shifts only or regular part time work and/or full-time work going forward, plus their immediate availability until the end of June.

Furley Page is looking for two trainee solicitors. Unless you have already completed the LPC, you will join as Graduate Solicitor Apprentice. During your period of training, you will complete 4 seats and undertake both SQE1 and SQE2 examinations over approximately 30 months. The Graduate Solicitor Apprentice course requires one day per week for study.

A strong academic background is essential with a minimum classification of a 2:1 law degree. For those who have a non-law degree, you must complete a conversion course such as the GDL or PGDL. In addition, you should have strong interpersonal skills, be commercially aware and ideally have previous work experience where these skills have been utilised.

You can also find further information online (external link).

Company: Stephenson Harwood 
Location: Your university campus  
Number of hours: 15 hours to be completed over 4-month period (October – January) 
Salary: £14.80 per hour 
Start date: October 
Training date: 8th September 

Stephenson Harwood is an international law firm. They represent listed and private companies, institutions and individuals to help them succeed in an ever-changing world.

Stephenson Harwood focus on five core sectors: energy transition and infrastructure, life sciences and healthcare, private capital and funds, technology, and transportation and trade. 

Stephenson Harwood combine their legal capabilities and expertise between their eight offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. They also have close ties with high quality law firms around the world to blend local knowledge for clients in over 100 countries. 

What is the role? 
 

• As a campus Brand Ambassador, you’ll be the face of Stephenson Harwood at your university.
• You’ll be responsible for using your university connections to promote the Stephenson Harwood brand and opportunities across all corners of campus. 
• You will be involved in promoting the training contract and vacation schemes to increasing the number of applications for each opportunity. 
• Your role will include collaborating with law societies, careers and academic departments. 
• In this flexible, paid role, your tasks could include lecture shout outs, social media promotion, society collaboration, face-to-face event attendance, networking and wider promotion at your university such as working with the careers department and other academic departments.
• This is a highly creative role, so we are looking forward to hearing your promotional ideas for the campaign! 

You can also find further information online (external link).

To what extent are ESG standards and regulations becoming more fragmented and how should lawyers support their clients in responding to this shift?
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues are a focus for many of our clients, whether they operate in the public, private, or third sectors. Each of our clients puts a different lens on ESG issues, and their motivations for seeking to improve their ESG performance are often complex and constantly evolving. Whether driven by the climate and biodiversity crisis; global political events; or local social movements, each client has a different ESG ‘fingerprint’, unique to them.

This is the fifth year of the student ESG Essay Competition. Previous questions have explored global supply chains, the role of lawyers in tackling biodiversity loss and the balance between additional legislation and new technology in climate change mitigation and adaptation. This year, we turn to the growing complexity of the regulatory environment, asking you to consider how clients and their lawyers should navigate an increasingly fragmented ESG landscape.

We expect that the strongest essays will engage with one or more of the different sectors that we focus on (find out more here - https://gowlingwlg.com/en/sectors/global )  and the issues that our clients, and those like them, face in those sectors. We don’t expect you to address every potential ESG issue, so please focus on the aspects that interest you the most. Whilst we are interested to read your ideas about the role of lawyers working in private practice law firms, do think about the roles that in-house lawyers play also.

What can you win?

The essay that captures our imagination the most will win a week’s paid internship (with accommodation if required) in our London office, working with our team of expert lawyers on a variety of ESG issues.

During your week’s internship, you’ll meet clients, undertake research, draft advice, and work closely with us to find out what it’s like advising clients on emerging legislation and ESG best practices. You’ll gain a great understanding of what life as a lawyer at Gowling WLG is like.

We will also host an Open Day for our top-placed entrants. We’ll invite you to our London office where you will get to meet some of our lawyers who advise on ESG matters; and you’ll meet some of our trainee solicitors and hear from our Early Talent team. We will also invite every applicant to a virtual open event to hear more about the firm and share some application tips.

Who can apply?

You can apply if you are studying at University; or if you’re a graduate. It doesn’t matter if you have a law, or non-law background. Unfortunately, we cannot cover the costs of international travel to attend the internship or Open Day and you must have the right to work in the UK.

Essays should be no more than 750 words (excluding references - please note that we have no preference for referencing style) and the deadline for entries is 6pm on Friday 18th September 2026. Please submit your entries to: ESGEssay@uk.gowlingwlg.com We would like to receive your essays in .pdf format and when submitting your entry, please include your name, where you’re studying (or studied) and details of the subject. Rest assured that our judges will not have access to that information when reading your essay.

The Inn offers a number of scholarships and prizes to support Members undertaking pupillage.

Senior Scholarships

Our most prestigious scholarships. Four scholarships, each with a value of £5,000, are awarded to pupils of exceptional merit.

Ann Goddard Scholarships

Pupils intending to build a practice at the publicly funded Bar can apply for these means tested scholarships, with over £80,000, awarded each year.

The Ede & Ravenscroft Prize

A wig and gown is awarded to a pupil who has embodied the Inn’s purpose, vision and values as a student Member.

The James Hunt Prize

The pupil with the best advocacy performance at the final stage of the Pupil Advocacy Course is awarded the James Hunt Prize.

As we move into the fifth year of this successful scheme, COMBAR is delighted to announce that its mentoring scheme for applicants from groups who are under-represented at the Bar (and the Commercial Bar in particular) is now open for applications for the 2026 – 2027 cycle.  The scheme is an important part of COMBAR’s commitment to improving access and diversity in the legal profession.  More than 870 mentees have benefited from the scheme to date.

The scheme pairs successful eligible candidates with practitioners from COMBAR member sets for a series of one-to-one mentoring sessions.  Mentees and their mentors are also invited to a pupillage interview and application workshop and social event, which is planned for 13 January 2027.  An equivalent event for this year’s scheme was held in January 2026 at Gray’s Inn, with an excellent turn out from mentees attending in person and remotely, and a keynote introductory speech by Mr Justice Henshaw, the Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court.

In order to ensure that as diverse a pool of potential applicants is reached as possible, COMBAR intends to advertise the scheme through the careers departments of all English and Welsh universities with a law department, together with a number of universities in Scotland and Ireland, third sector organisations such as HerBar, FreeBar, InterLaw, the Social Mobility Foundation and Sutton Trust.  COMBAR is also pleased to have renewed its arrangement with Legal Cheek, which remains the official partner for the scheme.

Applicants who are considered to have realistic prospects of obtaining a pupillage at the Commercial Bar will be assessed by reference to their need for mentoring and their potential to pursue a career at the Bar.  A deliberate decision has been taken to give equal weighting to both of these criteria to help ensure that the scheme reaches talented applicants from the most under-represented communities who would benefit most from mentoring and guidance.

Applicants wishing to participate in the scheme are requested to download and complete the application form which can be found here. Completed application forms must be saved as a PDF with the naming convention “First Name – Surname” and emailed to: MentoringURG@combar.com by Friday 16 October 2026.  Applicants will be informed as to whether or not they have been accepted onto the scheme within November 2026.  Due to the number of applicants applying for the scheme, it will unfortunately not be possible to give individual feedback as to why an application may have been unsuccessful, though unsuccessful applicants are welcome to re-apply in subsequent years.

Full details of the scheme can be found at the Scheme Guidelines which can be found here.  Any other questions should be directed to the following email address: MentoringURG@combar.com 

You can also find further information online (external link).