Legal Cheek’s most read stories of 2024

SQE shambles, NQ pay wars, LinkedIn rows and more

2024 has been a busy year for legal news.

Legal Cheek covered all things SQE, from marking errors to a falling pass rate. We also kept you informed about the war for talent, including the Magic Circle’s salary increases and the known impact of so-called salary bunching. Elsewhere, we discussed recruiter rows, firm rebrands, working hours, and more.

But which were our most-clicked headlines in 2024? Here are our 15 top stories from this year…

15. Exam chaos: Kaplan issues apology after 175 students wrongly told they’d failed SQE

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14. City pay war: Linklaters matches Freshfields with £150k NQ lawyer salary

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13. Newly qualified solicitor wins employment case against firm that signed probation review without her knowledge

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12. ‘I have a type’: City recruiter faces backlash for favouring Russell Group grads

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11. Freshfields drops ‘Bruckhaus Deringer’ in rebrand

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10. SQE1 pass rate drops to just 44%

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9. CMS and Slaughters latest firms to withdraw TC offers

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8. Exclusive research: What time do lawyers finish work at the UK’s top 100+ law firms?

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7. ‘I failed SQE1 and lost my TC. Is anyone else in the same boat?’

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6. Freshfields sets down Magic Circle salary marker as it ups NQ lawyer pay 20% to £150k

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5. Barrister Henry Hendron loses appeal against drug sentence

4. Salary squeeze: What are City law firms really paying their junior lawyers?

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3. Receptionist who couldn’t pronounce firm’s name loses employment case

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2. Newly qualified solicitor struck off for fabricating time recordings

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1. Exclusive: Clifford Chance cancels TC offers for students who failed SQE

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