The good, the bad, and the ugly in 2015

What a year 2015 has been. The last 12 months have been as eventful as any other in living memory for the legal profession.

Gateley went where no UK law firm had gone before by floating on the London Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, merger mania continued with some notable conscious couplings both nationally and internationally, along with the creation of the world's largest firm, China-based Dacheng, which joined global firm, Dentons. Unfortunately, it was not all good news for legal businesses, as the Parabis Group, one of the first alternative business structures, was broken up and sold for parts.

Legal regulation also remained in the spotlight. Highlights include solicitors-advocates becoming regulated by the Bar Standards Board; the Solicitors Regulation Authority's was given the green light to shake-up legal training, spelling the death knell of the 16-hour continuing professional development regime; and proposals have been forwarded to reform the educational requirements for solicitor qualification with a game-changing 'super exam'.

Gender equality took centre stage for much of the year amid accusations of a legal sector rife with sexism, while a lack of racial diversity at all levels of the profession was highlighted, once again.

Magna Carta dominated the headlines as politicians and lawyers alike scrambled to take advantage of the 800th anniversary celebrations. Arguments over human rights and legal aid have flown in all directions, and even the City elite have been dragged into the debate with suggestions they subsidise the justice system with a percentage of their substantial turnover.

Yet despite the above, the preceding 12 months have really been a tale of two Lord Chancellors. 2014 was the year of Chris Grayling, to the chagrin of any right-minded practitioner. The first non-lawyer Lord Chancellor in over 400 years had a tumultuous time in charge of justice policy, with the courts finding against him on numerous occasions for unlawful behaviour.

Grayling's appointment as leader of the House of Commons - where he seems unable to do any lasting damage - was certainly welcomed. The effects of his calamitous reign, however, are still felt seven months after his removal from 102 Petty France.

The newly appointed secretary of state for justice, Michael Gove, was hardly the man many lawyers wanted for the job. He put the wheels in motion to implement the Tories' pledge to replace the Human Rights Act with that most fabled panacea, the British Bill of Rights. He also continued with government plans to cut criminal legal aid fees. The legal profession, for a while at least, stood up as one and engaged in direct action, effectively shutting down the wheels of justice and drawing national press coverage to the plight of legal aid lawyers and their clients.

Gove, to his credit, has spent much of 2015 undoing that which Grayling royally botched: the highly publicised prison book ban, abandonment of the unconscionable commercial contract with Saudi Arabia, abolishing the controversial criminal courts charge, and breathing new life into the principles of a rehabilitative justice system with the scrapping of a £100m 'secure college'. He has, however, persisted with the Legal Aid Agency's 'flawed' tender procurement process. Only time will tell if he is a true liberal reformer.

2015 has also been a big year for SJ: we brought legal politics to the forefront of our editorial dialogue, bringing you exclusive interviews with Dominic Grieve QC, Sadiq Khan, and Jeremy Corbyn; we were the first to report on Tuckers's plans to abandon the traditional Bar model; and we are proud to continue to offer you first-rate legal market intelligence, informing you on best practice, and - I hope - bringing you together as a profession.

Next year is set to be even bigger, though, as we enter our 160th year of publication - plans are already afoot to celebrate this landmark achievement. Watch this space for more details, but, until then, and from the whole SJ team, may we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

John van der Luit-Drummond is deputy editor for Solicitors Journal