Lucinda Soon

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez: “A country that always defends human rights and international law, like Spain, earns the respect of the entire world, as has happened in recent weeks.”

IWD2026 - Keeping Real Women in Focus | Jenifer Swallow You know what is a tragedy or perhaps more accurately an outrage in the run up to International Women’s Day this year? The use of an AI woman (or heavily AI’d woman) as the banner image for the #IWD20...

Brilliant blog by Jenifer Swallow.

“Call me old school, but on the very day set aside for celebrating women, why are we usurping their faces with made up ones? … This is a trend I hate with a passion. Blurring out women.”

www.jeniferswallow.com/posts/keepin...

Pedro Sánchez: No to war It is naive to think that escalating conflict in Iran will lead to anything good, writes Spain’s prime minister

Pedro Sánchez guest writes for @economist.com: “Spain will always stand on the side of international law, co-operation among nations and the protection of human life. That is the mandate that citizens give us when they elect us.”

Chance encounters when paths cross, under the glow of city lights #b&w #photography #streets #afterdark

Underground entrance to Chancery Lane Station on High Holborn with the iconic blue, red and white London tube sign prominently placed in centre view. Blue skies in the distance with a smattering of clouds. Sun rays shine off a red brick building to the left, with Staple Inn standing to the right.

Everywhere looks so much prettier when the sun is shining.

AI is not a peer, so it can’t do peer review If we still believe that science is a vocation grounded in argument, curiosity and care, we can’t delegate judgement to machines, says Akhil Bhardwaj

“Peer review is imperfect, sometimes exclusionary, occasionally petty. We have all seen nonsensical reports and capricious delays. But the answer to those failings is to invest more in the human practice – through training, recognition and realistic expectation – not to hollow it out.”

I get very excited about fireplaces as I will likely never have one of my own. These from the Law Society, Chancery Lane are beautiful. The stone frieze in the second photo (from the Reading Room) was sculpted by Gilbert Bayes, perhaps better known for his Queen of Time clock at Selfridges.

Yellow vibes at Temple. #legallondon #photography

Bacon remembered Gray’s Inn looks back 400 years to celebrate one of its most influential members

This year, Gray’s Inn is marking 400 years since the death of Sir Francis Bacon, one of the most influential figures in British intellectual history and a lawyer whose career was deeply intertwined with the inn he joined at the age of 15.
Watch my new video.

rozenberg.substack.com/p/bacon-reme...

I’ve got quite a few photos of the Royal Courts of Justice but this is my favourite. The small details. Taken on one of those rare sunny days we had a few weeks back which now feels like a lifetime ago.

Innovation and wellbeing in legal education | International Bar Association A webinar presented by the IBA Professional Wellbeing Commission and the IBA Academic and Professional Development Committee In March 2024 the IBA Professional Wellbeing Commission published Guideline...

Shout out for this webinar on Monday next week that the IBA Professional Wellbeing Commission which I co-chair are organising. Fabulous speakers incl. the brilliant @parkendlydia.bsky.social ! Register below! Wellbeing in legal education is a hugely important topic. @ibaevents.bsky.social

Great article. I’ve always found this fascinating - how London cab drivers have a larger hippocampus than the general population because of the Knowledge. I had a lengthy conversation once with a cabbie about what it involved. Best cab journey ever. Our brains are really quite brilliant.

When the road ahead feels a bit long, there is light on the horizon. Black Mountain Pass, Brecon Beacons, 2021.

Pretty miserable outside so I’m throwing back to this moment of calm. A stormy weekend in November last year. But for the briefest of moments, the winds settled and everything was still. #Knaresborough #photography

In between classes today, I sat in a coffee shop by the window (my favourite spot) watching London pass me by. It reminded me how much I love Saul Leiter’s work. To be fair, what’s not to love. Looking at the world through a window. It’s what we all kind of do I suppose.

Art and justice: meet the Turner Prize-winner creating our art commission Helen Cammock is creating a new commissioned artwork to mark our 200th anniversary, which will be displayed at the Law Society Hall on Chancery Lane. Inspired by admissions ceremonies, our historic bu...

Definitely the former. More on the artist and story behind the pieces: www.lawsociety.org.uk/topics/blogs...

And a reminder to everyone who walks through its doors…

to hold the line yet progress the line
takes care and weathered feet
to carry the line in anothers story
is what just minds shall seek

Almost 3 months since this artwork was installed at The Law Society to mark its bicentenary…

no-one above the law
no-one beneath protection

Thu 12 March 2026, 0900 GMT: IBA will host an event at Debevoise's #London office to mark the launch of its new report – part of the IBA’s Raising the Bar: Women in Law project – addressing women’s experiences of working in the #legalprofession.

Read: www.ibanet.org/IBA-report-l...

Owning Up to Mistakes This practical guide shows how a culture where honesty and accountability thrive, can ensure regulatory compliance and reduced risk.

New book available on preorder! Lots of insights for lawyers in organisations across the legal sector, not just law firms. I penned some thoughts in a chapter on just culture and psychological safety.

bookshop.lawsociety.org.uk/owning-up-to...

So Bluesky friends, some Bluesky thinking…. This is my first academic co-convenor role and we’ve just launched our call for papers for the annual conference in September. Lots of subject sections. Practice, Profession and Ethics is our one and it would be wonderful to be inundated with submissions.

We are delighted to share @stephenmayson.bsky.social 's latest paper 'Lawyers and 'acting in the best interests of clients,'' which explores (amongst other timely issues) the tension between this duty & the public interest tinyurl.com/4sbbrkwc
@laws.ucl.ac.uk
#LegalEthics
#ProfessionalEthics

‘Drowning in the deep end’: factors which alleviate or exacerbate experiences of vicarious trauma in New Zealand Crown prosecutors This study qualitatively examines factors which exacerbate and alleviate experiences of vicarious trauma (VT) in New Zealand Crown prosecutors. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted ...

One very concerning reality is the lack of trauma-informed support for lawyers working in criminal justice and other high-risk areas. This new paper adds to the growing number of studies highlighting we need to do much better on this. #lawsky #academicsky #trauma

The Film Students Who Can No Longer Sit Through Films The attention-span crisis goes to the movies.

“The modern attention-span crisis is not limited to the written word,” Rose Horowitch reports. “Now professors are finding that they can’t even get students—film students—to sit through movies”:

History Society lecture titled The Early History of the English Bar by Professor Sir John Baker KC LLD FBA. The background is a medieval manuscript-style illustration showing robed legal figures seated above and a group of people debating around a green table below, with scrolls and papers scattered.

📚 The Early History of the English Bar

In this lecture, Professor Sir John Baker explores the origins of the Bar, the rise of Serjeants-at-Law, and the growing influence of the Inns of Court.

🗓 Monday 30 March, 6pm
👥 Open to the public
🎟️ Bookings: nrtm.pl/4kcP7c2

I think your thumbs up might be the one I loved most in my psych degree. We called it CHIPs (conceptual and historical influences in psychology). Loved it and loved the acronym.

Up the stairs, you’ll find the King’s Chapel which is actually not the original one that Smirke designed. The Chapel was redesigned in 1864 with Renaissance-style features, replacing Smirke’s more modest neoclassical design, which is why it looks a little out of place with the rest of the building.

In the entrance hall, two marble statues of Sappho and Sophocles symbolise the college motto “sancte et sapienter” (holiness and wisdom). This motto is also engraved on the stone facade as you enter, along with two allegorical depictions of Holiness (carrying a cross) and Wisdom (carrying a book).

Some views from today’s travels. The King’s Building, designed in 1829 by Sir Robert Smirke (think British Museum and St James Palace) was especially built as the home of King’s College London when it was established by Royal Charter. A little 🧵…

Mark's page I am so excited to be running in the London Marathon in support of LawCare, the mental health charity for the legal community. I am running to breakdown the stigma around mental health, and help colle

Very close to my heart and so inspired by our brilliant Law Society President running the marathon to support LawCare, the mental health charity for the legal profession. Pls support if you can. Looking to my #LawSky friends in particular.

2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/mark-evans