On Tuesday, in what is believed to be a legal first, an entire Magistrates' Court — including a district judge, court administration staff, prison officers and lawyers for the defence and prosecution — gathered around a taxi in a car park to conduct a preliminary hearing.

Sitting in the cab was Olga Hadassagh Charlton, who is accused of a £40,000 loan fraud and converting criminal property.

The Belfast Telegraph reports on the scene at Antrim Magistrates' Court car park:

District Judge Alan White proceeded to commit Charlton for trial at Antrim Crown Court, before releasing her on bail of £300.

The court refused to disclose the reason for locating the hearing outside.

A comprehensive diversity survey contains some eye-catching results

While women account for, on average, 56.5% of associates and 23.3% of partners, the ratios vary widely between firms — with a survey of 105 major law firms by Chambers Student detailing exactly how widely.

For example, at a handful of outfits, such as Fisher Meredith (whose gender ratios are shown in the picture above), women significantly outnumber men, while at other firms there are hardly any women at all...

The most women: top 20 firms

The fewest women: worst 20 firms

It's worth noting that some of the US firms shown above (whose London offices only were polled in the survey) have pretty nominal UK presences, so the sample of data is very small. More interesting, perhaps, is that the magic circle firms, when taken collectively, were shown to have fewer female lawyers than average, with women making up just 49.1% of associates and 19.1% of partners.

The full survey, which also contains a section on ethnicity similar to the recently published Black Solicitors Network 'Diversity League Table', is here.

Escalating tensions at the Law Society — which is facing dissent from its members over the top brass' lack of resistance to legal aid cuts — has spawned two new Twitter accounts.

Meet @fluck_nick and @hudson_des — troll accounts set up in the name of the Law Society's president and chief executive...

An indication of how angry the legal aid lawyers thought to be behind the accounts are is that they have taken the rather extreme step of tweeting the contact numbers of the real Nick Fluck and Des Hudson.

Ask Law Society Chief Exec Desmond Hudson a question about legal aid, or his salary and pension if you like. Direct Dial 020 7320 5601

— Nick Fluck (@fluck_nick) November 13, 2013

Mr Fluck to visit firms that require the Law Society to explain it's position. Contact his PA Rebecca Bramble on 0207 320 5808. Pls RT

— Des Hudson (@hudson_des) November 13, 2013

As the countdown begins to a special general meeting of the Law Society in January to vote on a motion of no confidence put forward by Liverpool-based solicitor James Parry — which The Lawyer reckons could bring down the whole Law Society — these accounts will certainly be worth keeping an eye on.

Rejection has proved a source of motivation for BPP chief Carl Lygo on his journey from a South Yorkshire comprehensive to the heights of legal education, via a stint at the Bar

I am lucky.

I was raised by a single parent mother, who one would now characterise as being “severely dyslexic” and who worked as a sewing machinist. I was brought up in the coal mining area of South Yorkshire, described at the time as a “European Poverty Zone”. I attended a local comprehensive school where less than 2% of students went on to university. I received free school meals (which statistics at the time suggested meant that I was in the “academically written-off” category). I also inherited dyslexia, although I didn’t realise.

My local careers service advised that I should go into a career in construction, possibly as a brick-layer. My mum taught me to make the best of my situation and maximise my potential, so I ignored the careers advice and decided that I wanted to be a lawyer. I took A levels at the local technical college because that enabled me to work while I studied. My grades were not exceptional, as I had not realised that one was supposed to revise for exams (I know this sounds silly but nobody in my family had taken an exam and nobody had explained to me about revising).

I was the first generation of my family to attend university and I quickly learnt that I had the capacity to work harder and longer than anybody in my year. I wasn’t the brightest or sharpest intellect but I was disciplined enough to throw all my efforts into study and revision. It paid off. I graduated with a first class honours degree, won scholarships to do a research masters degree and qualify at the Bar.

Along the way there were set-backs, and it is how you deal with those set-backs that marks out your character and your eventual success. So, for example, I wavered between wanting to become a solicitor or barrister, and in my second year at university I decided on becoming a solicitor. I applied to every firm in my home town for a training contract and every single one rejected me without interview. I am so pleased they did because the rejection made my mind up that I really wanted to be an advocate and go to the Bar. I completed pupillage, became a tenant and loved practice at the Bar. I would later go on to be included in The Lawyer’s list of “Hot 100 Lawyers”. I didn’t let initial rejection defeat me, instead I aimed higher and succeeded.

When I reached my goal I realised I could do more. I could help others in similar situations to achieve their goals. Coming from a humble background I found the entry to the Bar intimidating; it was an alien culture to dine in the Inns. So I decided to teach law and pass on what I had learned to new generations of young lawyers. Along the way I was able to join BPP and help build a major law school which eventually became a university.

The skills I learnt and developed as a lawyer have proved just as relevant to business. I became a FTSE 350 publicly listed director and chief executive of a multi-national company. I have been able to create scholarship funds that have helped 100s of students, in similar situations to those I experienced, to break into law and achieve their goals. I have been fortunate enough to be appointed to various public duties by the Lord Chief Justice, Secretary of State for Education and the Minister for Universities.

My advice? Stop trying to be like everyone else; you are unique. Concentrate on maximising your potential. There are some people who are well connected, naturally intelligent and seem to have every opportunity gifted to them. For the rest of us, work hard and be prepared to grab your opportunities when they come along. Successful careers and lives don’t just happen. Good preparation meets opportunity and success follows.

Carl Lygo is a barrister and chief executive of BPP Professional Education.

Follow @carllygo

Without wishing to appear pedantic...

WaitroseLaw identifies her least favourite legal personality types — and offers tips on how to handle them

THE TWITTER-MAD BARRISTER

The Bar has traditionally performed a vital social function by siphoning off the most obnoxious Oxbridge grads and corralling them safely in a few square miles in the Temple. There, they are able to bask in the sound of their own voices and revel in cloistered self-importance. Unless you took a wrong turning off Fleet Street on a dark night, they were, before the advent of social media, pretty easy to avoid.

Barristers have, of course, taken to Twitter with remarkable enthusiasm, realising intuitively that it offers the opportunity to share every fleeting thought with a world desperate to listen. No longer confined to droning on in conference long after the biscuits have run out or boring the judge, the Twitter-Mad Barrister can now bombard his mailing list with case updates, Instagram his breakfast, live-tweet his train journey and update his blog all before he even gets to court.

Encouraged, perhaps, by media stars like professional controversialist Barbara Hewson and the inescapable Daniel Barnett, our learned friends now account for almost as much social media traffic as cat memes. Perhaps it's not surprising in today's tough legal market: the combination of a dwindling workload and high-speed chambers internet connection makes it very tempting to while away the hours online. Alas, with legal aid cuts and lorry drivers muscling-in on the work, Twitter-Mad Barristers — and their close relations, Twitter-Mad Barristers (non-practising) — seem set to continue to multiply as long as social media stays free.

THE TOXIC TRAINEE

In these difficult times for those beginning careers in the law, an awareness has dawned among trainee solicitors that any show of weakness could see them consigned to the paralegal scrapheap. Hence the current popularity of inch-thick cotton shirts, obsessively-shined shoes and suits that cost more than a small family car.

The Toxic Trainee strides through the office in a haze of palpable ambition and slightly too much aftershave.  His sartorial extravagance is matched only by his relentless self-confidence. Not for him the mundanity of gradually learning on the job; from the first day of his training contract, his will be the loudest voice on any conference call and the chummiest banter with clients. He'll happily proclaim himself an expert on virtually anything, having last felt a quiver of self-doubt in 1997, and within days will have established himself as the firm's most followed tweeter.

Irritatingly, this pushiness seems to endear him to many partners, who are lulled into a false sense of security by his amiability. If they realised quite how fervently he wants their job, they'd hire someone to taste all their food. On the other hand, there's a small wax model of the Toxic Trainee in every fee-earner's desk drawer, festooned with drawing pins in a vain attempt at vengeance for swiping all the best work.

THE ABSENT FRIEND

Every department has one: an equity partner who's been with the firm since the 1890s, and, on the back of a reputation for epic client schmoozing, manages to command annual drawings of a level that continually threaten to plunge his firm into Halliwells-style oblivion.

Like any exotic creature, the Absent Friend is rarely sighted. Once in a blue moon they descend on the office, throwing their PA into a state of panic by asking her to process a stack of expense claims that looks like the galley proof for A La Recherche du Temps Perdu.

A stranger to such arcane practices as sending emails, filing papers and time-recording, the Absent Friend is nevertheless an asset to any quiz team and an incomparable source of gossip — if you can catch them for long enough. Their smooth self-assurance cracks only occasionally — when someone asks a question about the law. If you can establish yourself as their go-to person for any tricky technical questions (like 'What's the Companies Act?'), you'll have made yourself indispensable.

THE RADICAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER

The Radical Human Rights Lawyer is in denial. Having built his career when government funding for the law was plentiful (and reaped the associated financial benefits), he has managed to preserve a vision of himself as a left-wing student rather than a paid-up member of the 1%.

He'll moan about the "scruffy" area he lives in to the couch-surfing paralegals who work for him gratis, before returning to his £1 million of prime Victoriana on his £2,000 carbon fibre bike. Although his children have 19th century servant's names (Jack, Rosie and Esme are classic examples), he'd be horrified if they didn't get into their first choice school and had to mix with some actual working class people.

At work, the Radical Human Rights Lawyer is a mercurial blend of matey and demanding, as he tries vainly to reconcile his sense of identity with the fact he's earning 20 times your salary. The best approach is to flatter his delusions of Bohemia (try recommending a mezcal bar or low-budget arthouse film) while ignoring the fact that he speaks to you in the same voice he uses to his cleaner and his kids.

THE (SELF-APPOINTED) STYLE EXPERT

The 21st century legal profession is forward-looking and commercially orientated, welcoming diversity and...oh, who am I kidding? It's full of chauvinists old and new, whose progression from public school to partnership via a spell at one of the fustier Oxbridge colleges has left them incapable of relating to women as human beings, while still being leeringly obsessed with their underwear.

The result: a succession of sartorial dictats which highlight the thin line that female lawyers have to tread to pander to these inadequates without threatening them. Look feminine (flat shoes definitely not allowed), but not too sexy. Look groomed, but not like you care too much about your appearance and, ladies, don't forget to smile! All the while the (Self-Appointed) Style Expert continues dreaming of the day Matron caught him in the shower.

Of course, with women now making up around 60% of newly-admitted solicitors, he can't ignore them altogether and he'll even (grudgingly) dole out some work to them when it suits him. But don't expect to have any client contact unless he wants to dangle an ornament in front of them over dinner, nor that he'll ever hold a serious conversation with you — in fact, best to abandon the idea of conversation altogether, unless you're prepared for him to fail entirely to keep his eyes on your face.

WaitroseLaw is a lawyer with luscious organic selection, impeccable ethics and dinner party skills. She is not affiliated with or authorised by Waitrose.

Follow @waitroselaw

Did you know that the global security company which lawyers fear could land a legal aid contract has a company rock song?

The lyrics to G4S's stirring ballad, 'Securing Your World', are transcribed below.

"You love your job and the people too
Making a difference is what you do
But consider all you have at stake
The time is now don't make a mistake
Because the enemy prowls, wanting to attack
But we're on the wall, we've got your back
So get out front and take the lead
And be the winner you were born to be
G4S! protecting the world
G4S! so dreams can unfurl
24/7 every night and day
A warrior stands ready so don't be afraid
G4S! secure in your world
G4S! let your dreams unfurl
We're guarding you with all our might
Keeping watch throughout the night"

As spotted yesterday by BuzzFeed.

Legal Cheek's Alex Aldridge met University of Law employability programme manager Joanne Rourke and picked her brain on how wannabe lawyers can land a TC during the hectic year that is the GDL.

Below are the key points made by Rourke (pictured), with the pair's full conversation in the podcast at the foot of the page.

The process of getting a training contract is alien to a lot of students when they get here. In some respects it's surprising. Many don't know what type of lawyer they want to be.

Students can become anxious when they see peers who already have training contracts. There is some panic. Especially around the beginning of term. I try to slow things down, and help them to focus on what is important.

Insufficient research is a common problem. Some might want to jump in and start applying for the training contracts that their friends are applying for. But not taking time to consider what sort of firm is right for you makes it hard to sell yourself properly. It's those students who tend to come to see you later on feeling down having faced lots of rejections.

There are far less places on winter vac schemes than on the schemes in the spring and summer. In the meantime, it's worth looking at ad hoc opportunities that you can create yourself through contacts and networks. Try not to be regimented: all experience is useful.

Even if you don't have a training contract after Christmas, there's still plenty of time. Really, what you're trying to do is to work out what the best route is for you. It can change. You can do work experience and decide that you actually don't want to do a particular area of law.

Going to the Bar because you haven't got a training contract is not recommended. I see students considering this enough to concern me, and I try to delve deeper with these people. You've got to jump in very whole-heartedly if you're going to be successful as a barrister.

There aren't many in-house training contracts. In-house law is a growing sector, with more lawyers working in companies' legal teams. However, few start their careers there, and in that sense there is a disconnect. I often get asked where I can go and find in-house training contracts. There isn't a place, you have to search high and low.

It's difficult to apply for training contracts during the run up to exams. That's why it's important to start early — both in terms of thinking through your motivations and then making applications. If you have a good idea of where you want to be, the process of making applications is much easier.

The option to defer the LPC if you have no training contract depends on the student. Some branches of the legal profession will only recruit students from an LPC market. So if you don't take the plunge you won't be in with a chance. In that case there is always the part-time route, although it depends on your appetite for juggling workloads. For other students, there are times when taking a year out makes sense if they have a good plan for how to use it.

Alternative careers can be quite attractive. Compliance, in particular. It's a growth area at banks and requires a similar skill set to law. Tax consultancy is another interesting alternative. So, you're not necessarily a qualified solicitor or a barrister, but you can still have a very fulfilling career.

Don't be put off by negative stories. Instead, concentrate on learning from the setbacks which you inevitably will experience. A mature, part-time candidate I advised recently persevered through lots of rejections while studying the GDL and LPC part-time, and eventually secured a training contract with a very good corporate law firm. She starts in January.

THE INTERVIEW IN FULL

Nobody enjoys commuting less than in-house lawyer Twitter sensation Legal Bizzle

Has the journey to and from work caused you to feel this much hatred?

A man with a constant hacking cough got on at Doncaster. Sounds possible that he'll die of his own accord before I snap and kill him myself.

— Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 24, 2013

Been on the train less than 10 minutes and already 6 blokes have pushed past me to go to the toilet. Think I'm in the prostate carriage. — Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 28, 2013

People who bring McDonalds breakfasts onto the train. I can call the British Transport Police, right?

— Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 22, 2013

There's a man on this train wearing shorts. This is displeasing. — Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) September 20, 2013

Whole way from Newark to KGX, bloke next to me was digging his elbow into me and complaining I was in his space. UTTER COCK. — Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) September 23, 2013

The deepest circle of hell is reserved for those who breach the law of the quiet coach.

"I'll have to be quick, I'm in the quiet coach..." It's the QUIET coach, not the fucking quick coach, you twonk. #cockwomble — Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) July 4, 2013

Apparently, having a Louis Vuitton manbag confers the right to make calls in the quiet coach. Who knew? #cockwomble — Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 23, 2012

If anything, the train companies are even worse than the passengers.

Sometimes I forget just how much I detest Cross Country trains. Being unwillingly reminded now. — Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 15, 2013

Is it the pervasive smell of piss? The tiny seats? The overcrowding? The all day beerfest?

— Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 15, 2013

No. It's the whole fucking shambling pretence of a train company. Fucking fuckers.

— Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) October 15, 2013

But very occasionally it all comes together.

There are days when I wouldn't swap my job for any other in the world. What a ride.

— Legal Bizzle (@LegalBizzle) November 12, 2013

Have a great Monday.

Follow @LegalBizzle

A young solicitor at City law firm Ashurst has been ordered to stand trial in February accused of killing a motorcyclist by careless driving.

Alexandra Verzariu, 32, who works in the firm's corporate department, is alleged to have crashed into Rodrigo Pereira De Souza in west London on October 13 last year.

Mr De Souza, 36, broke his neck after he was thrown off his bike and into a lamppost. He died at the scene in Harrow Road, Maida Vale.

Ashurst declined to comment.

EXCLUSIVE: A solicitor at leading law firm Kennedys is running a sideline selling law school notes to students online.

Operating under the names of 'GDL Guru' and 'LPC Guru', Helen Neale charges £69.99 per set of notes for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC).

The notes were taken by Neale during the GDL and LPC, which she completed between 2008-2010 before doing her training contract and going on to qualify as a solicitor at Kennedys' Sheffield office. Publicly available salary data states that Kennedys' newly qualified solicitors earn £58,000 a year.

Neale, who also has a degree in philosophy from Cambridge University, makes no mention of the fact that she is a Kennedys lawyer on either the 'GDL Guru' or 'LPC Guru' websites. But she does reveal her own identity, stating in the "legal" section of both sites that all the featured notes and materials "are copyright of Helen Neale 2010". Until earlier this month, Neale also listed 'GDL Guru' on her LinkedIn profile.

Pictured: GDLGuru.co.uk, through which Neale sells her "distinction-level" notes to students.

The success of GDLGuru.co.uk prompted Neale to launch LPCGuru.co.uk.

Both sites include a notice that guards against the "copying or redistributing of these notes without the author’s permission". Students are warned that this would constitute "an infringement of UK copyright law". In addition, a disclaimer states that the notes "are not a substitute for the need to do your own work on the GDL/LPC course".

Neale did not respond to Legal Cheek's request for comment.

A representative for Kennedys said: "The firm aren't going to make any comment on this."

Throughout the month we've been keeping track of the moustaches being grown by the nation's solicitors, barristers and clerks. Here are 14 of the best...

Field Court Chambers barrister Rhys Hadden (donate here)

Cartwright King solicitor Mark Salt (donate here)

London Solicitors partner Cemal Turk (donate here)

Zenith Chambers barrister Andrew Wilson (donate here)

Ringrose Law solicitor John Knight (donate here)

Honorary member of the legal profession Neil Stuke (aka Billy Lamb in Silk)

TWM Solicitors trainee David Powell (donate here)

Zenith Chambers barrister Tom Tyson (donate here)

Bird & Bird associate Simon Cobb (donate here)

Asons Solicitors' Sev Manassian (donate here)

Richard Reed solicitor Phil Moir

Field Court clerk Mark Townsend (donate here)

Birchall Blackburn partner Carlos Lopez (donate here)

Shearman Bowen & Co solicitor Greg Foxsmith (donate here)

The men of Nabarro

The men of Bird & Lovibond

Legal academic Angus MacCulloch of Lancaster University

And finally...suspected foul play from Riverview Law director of operations Jeremy Hopkins

Your Movember donation page not listed?

Get in touch at thomas.connelly@legalcheek.com

There’s a reason not many lawyers move back into practice after going in-house, says Mark Smith

It was at law school when I got my first taste of the uncompromising law of supply and demand.

All my peers also had (at least) a 2:1 from a decent university and pretty good A-levels, and yet plenty of us were staring at the end of our Legal Practice Course (LPC) with no training contract in sight. I decided that my law school fees needed paying off and so applied for jobs as a trainee chartered accountant.

In contrast to the misery of law firm applications (at least a hundred applications, only two interviews, one of which was with a recruitment partner who smelt strongly of booze, no offers), I applied to four of what were then the big six accountancy firms, got three interviews and two offers.

Why the massive increase in success?

Printed my CV on better quality paper? Nope — just straight supply and demand. Have a look at how many trainee accountants the big four firms take on compared to the number of trainee solicitors that the magic circle law firms take on. So here’s tip one: have a Plan B.

Fortunately I landed a training contract six months into my fledgling accountancy career (tip two: don’t give up) and did my training at the small firm where I’d done work experience previously (tip three: work experience is genuinely important).

Although I knew I wanted to end up doing large-scale commercial work, the hands-on training I got at the smaller firm definitely gave me a head start in developing some of the skills that can allow you to fast track a career in a larger firm (and I’m thinking here particularly of business development and client handling skills). While I think I may have struggled to move from the firm I trained with (eight partners) to a top ten firm, I made the jump to what was at the time a top 25 firm, so tip four is just to get in the profession, and take it from there. Once in a larger firm it became apparent that the whole “chargeable hours thing” was a bit of a pain in the backside. I found it incredibly frustrating that this system of measurement seemed to work against spending time on some of the things that clients and indeed partners really seemed to value.

Spend time finding out about your client’s sector and business? Non-chargeable. Spend time building strong networks inside and outside the firm? Non-chargeable. Spend time selling and winning work? Non-chargeable. Strangely a lot of the things I was doing that seemed to be allowing me to fast track my career were often not formally recognised or encouraged — but with the right mentors and supporters in the firm, the hard work paid off.

Tip five: from the six years I spent in practice after qualifying, is to focus on the client. Understand their world — their sector, their business, their objectives and them as people. Law firms deliver professional services; in my experience you can differentiate yourself as a young lawyer by concentrating on the “service” part rather than simply grinding out chargeable hours.

Moving in-house was a great move. There’s a reason why not many lawyers move back to practice after going in-house. I really enjoyed my time in-house. Free to spend my time on where it would add most value to the business, able to truly get to grips with the commercial drivers behind a deal and able to work on international projects without the constraints and politics of law firm networks.

Tip six: if you are a commercial lawyer, at the very least try and get a secondment to see if in-house life is for you.

At ten years qualified, I called it a day. I found that although I still enjoyed my job, the parts I enjoyed most were the business aspects of running an in-house legal team, and the part I enjoyed least was the law itself. I’d completed an MBA and then moved into a strategy role in the business. Since then I’ve worked as a consultant to law firms, led a legal process outsourcing business and now work at LexisNexis helping in-house counsel work in a smarter way.

Being a lawyer helps develop some brilliant transferrable skills, but a deep knowledge of a specialist area of the law itself may not be top of the list. If I were doing it all again, I wouldn’t do a law degree. My first degree would be something (a) that I’d enjoy, and (b) that would be relevant to my future client’s business. For me that would have been either a business, economics or technology-related degree. If I’d have wanted to be an IP lawyer, I’d have done a science degree.

The second thing I’d do differently is make a very honest assessment of supply and demand at the point of applying for law school. The profession is changing rapidly — make it your business to understand these changes and work out what they might mean for your career. Work out what type of law you want to practice (even if it’s only a best guess), and then see what’s happening now for the firms which practice in that area and the clients that they serve.

In my view, there are plenty of law firms that exist now that won’t be around (at least in their current form) in five years’ time. There will also be a host of legal service providers that haven’t yet emerged. These changes will likely shape your career. My final tip is to keep tabs on the shape of the profession so that you make career decisions with your eyes open. Good luck!

Mark Smith is director of in-house legal markets at LexisNexis. Previously, he was a solicitor at Morgan Cole and Olswang, and a senior legal director at Convergys.

Follow @intchallenge

Subclauses (i) and (ii) of clause (b) from this note sent over the weekend are particular highlights...

Over the weekend BKRW Solicitors' Oliver Kirk tweeted this picture (see below) of his training contract offer — from 1993. The bit about the coal is a joke, right?

Follow @Kirkabout

They've all been at it lately. Last month the Guardian committed the relatively minor offence of illustrating a story about criminal barristers with a picture of the Civil Procedure Rules. Next The Times adorned a story about the magic circle with an image of a wig. And now this from The Independent...

For the avoidance of any doubt, that's the cast of barrister drama Silk in the photo.

Why Vince Cable must break the monopoly of law’s magic circle [The Independent]

A young solicitor at City law firm Ashurst has been ordered to stand trial in February accused of killing a motorcyclist by careless driving.

Alexandra Verzariu, 32, who works in the firm's corporate department, is alleged to have crashed into Rodrigo Pereira De Souza in west London on October 13 last year.

Mr De Souza, 36, broke his neck after he was thrown off his bike and into a lamppost. He died at the scene in Harrow Road, Maida Vale.

Ashurst declined to comment.

EXCLUSIVE: A solicitor at leading law firm Kennedys is running a sideline selling law school notes to students online.

Operating under the names of 'GDL Guru' and 'LPC Guru', Helen Neale charges £69.99 per set of notes for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) and Legal Practice Course (LPC).

The notes were taken by Neale during the GDL and LPC, which she completed between 2008-2010 before doing her training contract and going on to qualify as a solicitor at Kennedys' Sheffield office. Publicly available salary data states that Kennedys' newly qualified solicitors earn £58,000 a year.

Neale, who also has a degree in philosophy from Cambridge University, makes no mention of the fact that she is a Kennedys lawyer on either the 'GDL Guru' or 'LPC Guru' websites. But she does reveal her own identity, stating in the "legal" section of both sites that all the featured notes and materials "are copyright of Helen Neale 2010". Until earlier this month, Neale also listed 'GDL Guru' on her LinkedIn profile.

Pictured: GDLGuru.co.uk, through which Neale sells her "distinction-level" notes to students.

The success of GDLGuru.co.uk prompted Neale to launch LPCGuru.co.uk.

Both sites include a notice that guards against the "copying or redistributing of these notes without the author’s permission". Students are warned that this would constitute "an infringement of UK copyright law". In addition, a disclaimer states that the notes "are not a substitute for the need to do your own work on the GDL/LPC course".

Neale did not respond to Legal Cheek's request for comment.

A representative for Kennedys said: "The firm aren't going to make any comment on this."

Throughout the month we've been keeping track of the moustaches being grown by the nation's solicitors, barristers and clerks. Here are 16 of the best...

Field Court Chambers barrister Rhys Hadden (donate here)

Cartwright King solicitor Mark Salt (donate here)

London Solicitors partner Cemal Turk (donate here)

Zenith Chambers barrister Andrew Wilson (donate here)

Ringrose Law solicitor John Knight (donate here)

Honorary member of the legal profession Neil Stuke (aka Billy Lamb in Silk)

TWM Solicitors trainee David Powell (donate here)

Zenith Chambers barrister Tom Tyson (donate here)

Bird & Bird associate Simon Cobb (donate here)

Asons Solicitors' Sev Manassian (donate here)

Richard Reed solicitor Phil Moir

Field Court clerk Mark Townsend (donate here)

Birchall Blackburn partner Carlos Lopez (donate here)

The men of Nabarro

The men of Bird & Lovibond

And finally...suspected foul play from Riverview Law director of operations Jeremy Hopkins

Your Movember donation page not listed?

Get in touch at thomas.connelly@legalcheek.com.

There’s a reason not many lawyers move back into practice after going in-house, says Mark Smith

It was at law school when I got my first taste of the uncompromising law of supply and demand.

All my peers also had (at least) a 2:1 from a decent university and pretty good A-levels, and yet plenty of us were staring at the end of our Legal Practice Course (LPC) with no training contract in sight. I decided that my law school fees needed paying off and so applied for jobs as a trainee chartered accountant.

In contrast to the misery of law firm applications (at least a hundred applications, only two interviews, one of which was with a recruitment partner who smelt strongly of booze, no offers), I applied to four of what were then the big six accountancy firms, got three interviews and two offers.

Why the massive increase in success?

Printed my CV on better quality paper? Nope — just straight supply and demand. Have a look at how many trainee accountants the big four firms take on compared to the number of trainee solicitors that the magic circle law firms take on. So here’s tip one: have a Plan B.

Fortunately I landed a training contract six months into my fledgling accountancy career (tip two: don’t give up) and did my training at the small firm where I’d done work experience previously (tip three: work experience is genuinely important).

Although I knew I wanted to end up doing large-scale commercial work, the hands-on training I got at the smaller firm definitely gave me a head start in developing some of the skills that can allow you to fast track a career in a larger firm (and I’m thinking here particularly of business development and client handling skills). While I think I may have struggled to move from the firm I trained with (eight partners) to a top ten firm, I made the jump to what was at the time a top 25 firm, so tip four is just to get in the profession, and take it from there. Once in a larger firm it became apparent that the whole “chargeable hours thing” was a bit of a pain in the backside. I found it incredibly frustrating that this system of measurement seemed to work against spending time on some of the things that clients and indeed partners really seemed to value.

Spend time finding out about your client’s sector and business? Non-chargeable. Spend time building strong networks inside and outside the firm? Non-chargeable. Spend time selling and winning work? Non-chargeable. Strangely a lot of the things I was doing that seemed to be allowing me to fast track my career were often not formally recognised or encouraged — but with the right mentors and supporters in the firm, the hard work paid off.

Tip five: from the six years I spent in practice after qualifying, is to focus on the client. Understand their world — their sector, their business, their objectives and them as people. Law firms deliver professional services; in my experience you can differentiate yourself as a young lawyer by concentrating on the “service” part rather than simply grinding out chargeable hours.

Moving in-house was a great move. There’s a reason why not many lawyers move back to practice after going in-house. I really enjoyed my time in-house. Free to spend my time on where it would add most value to the business, able to truly get to grips with the commercial drivers behind a deal and able to work on international projects without the constraints and politics of law firm networks.

Tip six: if you are a commercial lawyer, at the very least try and get a secondment to see if in-house life is for you.

At ten years qualified, I called it a day. I found that although I still enjoyed my job, the parts I enjoyed most were the business aspects of running an in-house legal team, and the part I enjoyed least was the law itself. I’d completed an MBA and then moved into a strategy role in the business. Since then I’ve worked as a consultant to law firms, led a legal process outsourcing business and now work at LexisNexis helping in-house counsel work in a smarter way.

Being a lawyer helps develop some brilliant transferrable skills, but a deep knowledge of a specialist area of the law itself may not be top of the list. If I were doing it all again, I wouldn’t do a law degree. My first degree would be something (a) that I’d enjoy, and (b) that would be relevant to my future client’s business. For me that would have been either a business, economics or technology-related degree. If I’d have wanted to be an IP lawyer, I’d have done a science degree.

The second thing I’d do differently is make a very honest assessment of supply and demand at the point of applying for law school. The profession is changing rapidly — make it your business to understand these changes and work out what they might mean for your career. Work out what type of law you want to practice (even if it’s only a best guess), and then see what’s happening now for the firms which practice in that area and the clients that they serve.

In my view, there are plenty of law firms that exist now that won’t be around (at least in their current form) in five years’ time. There will also be a host of legal service providers that haven’t yet emerged. These changes will likely shape your career. My final tip is to keep tabs on the shape of the profession so that you make career decisions with your eyes open. Good luck!

Mark Smith is director of in-house legal markets at LexisNexis. Previously, he was a solicitor at Morgan Cole and Olswang, and a senior legal director at Convergys.

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