Morning Briefing: Law graduates facing stiff competition for jobs

Young lawyers vying for jobs in Canberra considering other options… Banks demand that law firms strengthen cyber security… Philippines could open cybercrime courts… Former WWE wrestler aims for class action over health issues

Young lawyers vying for jobs in Canberra
Law graduates in the capital are finding it tough to get work due to an oversupply of lawyers. It’s lead to many students leaving university with law degrees but being forced to go into other professions, despite the wide scope of the legal profession in the ACT. Using a law degree in another profession is not necessarily a bad thing; the head of the School of Law at Canberra University, Professor Maree Sainsbury
told The Sydney Morning Herald that graduates should be flexible and consider “using their skill sets in many diverse professions”.
 
Banks demand that law firms strengthen cyber security
Banks are increasingly concerned about the threat of cyber attack and are demanding that their law firms do more to avoid becoming a weakness in the system. A report in the Wall Street Journal says that law firms are being subjected to background checks and strict procedures’ including on-site audits to ensure that they are not an easy target for hackers. Financial regulators have identified law firms as a potential point of vulnerability in the supply chain to banks and greater measures are required of firms to ensure the safety of the data they handle.
 
Philippines could open cybercrime courts
The Department of Justice in the Philippines is urging the country’s Supreme Court to open dedicated courts to try cybercrime cases. The DoJ recently launched a specialised team to handle crimes relating to the misuse of communications and technology. The cases that the new court would handle would include child pornography and hacking.
 
Former WWE wrestler aims for class action over health issues
A former WWE wrestler is suing the company claiming "egregious mistreatment of its wrestlers for its own benefit, as well as its concealment and denial of medical research and evidence concerning traumatic brain injuries suffered by WWE wrestlers”. Billy Jack Haynes is seeking class action status for the lawsuit to cover all those who have suffered injuries while performing for the company. He claims that even if WWE didn’t know about the potential damage from wrestling injuries, they should have done as medical evidence was available. A similar case taken by 75 NFL football players is set to cost the league more than $765 million in damages to injured players.
 

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