Together with

Table of Contents

• EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

• FEATURED REPORT 📰

• TOGETHER WITH BARBRI SQE*

• IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

EDITOR’S RAMBLE 🗣

I once spent an entire partner lunch panicking about a vegetarian pasta.

It was week two of my vac scheme. A partner had taken me out for lunch (I was already stressed about this – especially what I should talk about).

When the menu came, I didn't want to seem greedy or rude, so I ordered the cheapest thing. It happened to be a vegetarian pasta. Then I spent the whole meal worrying that ordering the cheapest thing made me look like I thought I didn’t belong there. Oh, and I'm not vegetarian.

That wasn't the only strange thing I did during that vac scheme.

My supervisor told me on day one to call her Jenna. I still started every email to her as "Dear Ms Hollingsworth." Even the super short emails.

A two-line update would start "Dear Ms Hollingsworth, I hope this email finds you well." I thought that's just what lawyers did.

Another thing I did – I walked into the women's toilets by mistake. The different floors had men's and women's on opposite sides – I got them mixed up. I walked in, saw a woman drying her hands. I froze, half apologised, and quickly walked out. For three days I tried to avoid her. I was convinced that was the end of my training contract hopes.

Before starting my vac scheme, I'd never set foot in a law firm office (unless it was for an open day or assessment centre).

And I know a lot of you are in the same position.

Maybe you're not worrying about your lunch order, but you're worrying about your handshake, or your backpack, or how you answer “what did you get up to over the weekend?”

It’s easy to overthink this stuff – but that’s not going to help you.

Here’s what you should think about (which is much simpler).

Law firms want trainees who are:

1. Curious (ask questions about the work)

2. Pleasant to be around (say hello, use people’s names, don’t complain)

3. Engaged with the work (do what you’re asked to do on time – and communicate early when you’re stuck)

That's pretty much it.

If you do those three things well, the small stuff takes care of itself. And the small stuff you got wrong? They've seen it before. Many times.

I promise, you're doing better than you think you are.

– Idin

FEATURED REPORT 📰

🏦 Why Standard Life just bought Aegon for £2 billion

What’s going on here?

Standard Life (the UK pensions company) is acquiring Aegon UK (the UK arm of a Dutch pensions group) for £2 billion. This will make it the second-largest workplace pension provider in the UK.

Standard Life will absorb Aegon's UK pension and savings business – adding £160 billion of assets and 3.8 million customers to its existing business.

The UK workplace pensions market is already highly concentrated – the top four providers already control roughly 70% of workplace pension assets – and this deal will make that even more concentrated.

What’s driving the consolidation of UK pensions?

Consolidation in UK pensions isn't new. What is new is the pace – and the fact that it is now being written into law.

There are three forces that are accelerating it.

📉 Reason 1: Small pension providers can't cover the cost of running anymore. The UK workplace pensions market already holds over £2 trillion in assets, and regulators keep raising the bar on things like reporting, risk controls, and member protections.

Meeting those standards costs roughly the same whether you manage £5 billion or £50 billion, so the bigger providers can spread the cost across more savers and still turn a profit.

For smaller platforms, the financial challenge gets harder every year, and selling up to a bigger player is often the cleanest way out.

💰 Reason 2: The UK pensions market is attracting big new private equity investors. UK companies used to run pension schemes for their staff, saving up money over the years to pay them in retirement. Running a scheme is expensive, so over the last decade companies have been handing them over to insurers like Standard Life or Aegon UK.

The insurer takes the whole pot (and the job of paying pensions out for the rest of each retiree's life). They also get billions of pounds to invest. This is where private equity firms like Apollo and Brookfield come in.

They buy up UK pension insurers and move the money into their own funds, which invest in long-term assets like roads, buildings, and loans to companies – assets that pay out steadily over decades, just like pensions need to. The insurers earn returns on those investments, and Apollo and Brookfield collect management fees on top.

📜 Reason 3: Parliament is making it compulsory. The Pension Schemes Bill, now in its final stages, is about to set a minimum size for the big workplace pension funds that most employees' money ends up in.

From 2030, these funds will need to hold at least £25 billion (with five extra years for funds that hit £10 billion by 2030 and are on track for £25 billion). The idea is that bigger funds can invest in a wider range of things like infrastructure, property, and private equity, which earn stronger long-term returns for savers and bring more investment into the UK economy.

Aegon UK's fund held just £6.5 billion – nowhere near the required size. So selling to a bigger provider that's already there is easier than trying to grow fast enough in time.

On 15 April, MPs voted the Bill a step closer to becoming law. That same day, the deal was announced (this wasn't a coincidence).

How did Standard Life structure and price the deal?

Standard Life paid with a combination of cash, debt, and newly issued shares – with Aegon retaining a small stake.

Each part of that mix does something different.

Aegon can't sell its Standard Life shares for 18 months after the deal closes, or until Aegon moves its head office to the US – whichever comes first. This is called a "lock-up period". It means Aegon has an incentive to to stay involved to make the deal work, rather than taking the shares and selling them straight away.

In valuation terms, the £2 billion price translates to roughly 14 times Aegon UK's 2025 earnings.

Standard Life is willing to pay this price for two reasons.

💰 This deal shifts how Standard Life makes its money: Right now, about half of Standard Life's earnings come from its insurance business – things like taking over company pension schemes and paying retirees for life. That means Standard Life is betting its own money: if investments underperform or retirees live longer than expected, Standard Life has to cover the shortfall. It also has to hold billions in reserves as a safety buffer.

Aegon's business is different. Most of Aegon's customers own their own pension pots, and Aegon just runs the platform for a fee – if markets crash, the customer bears the loss, not Aegon.

After the deal, Standard Life's earnings mix tilts away from the riskier capital-at-stake side and towards the steadier fee side. That's a safer way to make money, and a cheaper way to grow.

📲 The price also bought a tech platform: Aegon's Mylo app lets workplace pension members check their pension on their phone, track down old pots from previous jobs, and message experts for help – the kind of digital experience most pension providers still don't offer.

Behind the scenes, Aegon uses cloud-based systems to personalise how it engages with each saver.

These both give Standard Life a ready-made tech product (along with data) that could have taken years to build on its own.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.

What does the regulatory approval process actually involve?

When a company acquires an insurer, it needs written approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority first.

The PRA has 60 working days to assess the deal – but that clock doesn't start until the PRA decides the notification is complete. On a transaction of this complexity, getting to that point requires months of pre-notification engagement with the PRA – and that work falls squarely on the lawyers.

Which law firms are involved?

Freshfields is advising Standard Life, and A&O Shearman is advising Aegon.

How can you use this in your applications?

Here are some ways you can use the insights from this story in your law firm applications.

TOGETHER WITH BARBRI SQE*

What should aspiring solicitors be doing right now?

You know you should be preparing for your legal career.

But you might not know where to start.

That’s why BARBRI created a free Career Guide to Becoming a Solicitor – designed for university students and recent graduates who want practical next steps.

Inside, you’ll find clear advice on:

• Building a stronger CV and LinkedIn profile

• Routes into law for non-law students

• Finding Qualifying Work Experience (QWE)

It’s clear, practical, and gives you one place to start.

A free guide to keep by your side as you navigate the journey to qualification.

*This is sponsored content

IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• 🤖 Simmons & Simmons has launched a two-week AI internship programme. As part of it, the firm’s taking on eight interns. They'll get hands-on experience working alongside the firm's AI team on both tech and legal projects. Peter Lee, a partner at the firm, said tomorrow's lawyers need to grasp both the opportunities and risks of AI.

• 🚗 The AA has been fined almost £5 million for hidden fees on driving lessons. The Competition and Markets Authority ordered the company to pay £4.2 million and refund learners over £760,000. The regulator found the AA left a £3 booking fee out of its advertised prices, only adding it at checkout – a tactic called drip pricing. It's the first financial penalty the CMA has issued under new consumer protection powers that let it act directly without going through the courts. Over 80,000 customers will get an average refund of £9.

• 🎓 Nine universities have launched legal action against the government over student loan repayments. Around 22,000 students on weekend courses have been told their maintenance loans and childcare grants were given "in error" and must be paid back immediately. Their courses have been reclassified as distance learning, which isn't eligible for the same support. The universities (including Bath Spa and London Met) say the abrupt decision punishes vulnerable students, some of them just weeks away from graduating. The government blames universities for "incompetence or abuse of the system".

STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

• 💻️ Free application advice: Check out my YouTube channel for actionable tips and an insight into the lifestyle of a commercial lawyer in London.

• 📁 Law firm application bank: A growing library of real, verified successful applications for training contracts and vacation schemes. Helpful if you want to learn from others who answered the same questions you’re stuck on.

• 📝 Write winning law firm applications: A practical course to help you write clearer applications, faster. Avoid common mistakes, learn how to structure answers properly, and get lifetime access to future updates. Try it for 14 days, risk free.