Treasury’s LLP tax proposal could add £46,000 burden per partner October 23, 2025 Law firms’ partners could face an additional £1.4bn in tax each year if the Treasury goes ahead with imposing a 15 per cent rate of national insurance contributions on LLPs. According to data provided by HMRC to UHY Hacker Young, partners of law firms made a total of £9.2bn in profits in the latest year. [...]
Legal sector feeling subdued as regulator loses its AML powers October 23, 2025 The Treasury’s decision to transfer oversight of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision to the FCA has sparked concerns within the professional services sector. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) served as a Professional Body Supervisor (PBS) for AMLCT for law firms across England and Wales, while for the accountancy sector, the HMRC plays the supervision [...]
Lawyers sound alarm over Rachel Reeves’ proposed tax target on LLPs October 22, 2025 The Chancellor is reportedly looking to target limited liability partnerships (LLPs) for a tax raid as she tries to fill the fiscal black hole, but critics warn that this move will have consequences for the professional services sector. The LLP model, used by professional services such as law firms, accountancy, and some doctors (GPs), came into force [...]
PayPal-backed UK fintech kicks off legal battle over unpaid fees October 22, 2025 A PayPal-backed UK fintech which provides services to the HMRC is locked in a legal battle with a former client over an accusation of unpaid pre-determined charges. Embedded payments firm Modulr has filed a winding up petition against Paymob Technology, which trades under the moniker Dapio. A Judge will hear the case on Wednesday October [...]
Fully remote with no associates: Meet the ‘elite’ law firm of the future October 22, 2025 US lawyers Michael Pierson and Joel Ferdinand joined forces “with the vision to build the elite law firm of the future”, going in the opposite direction of the traditional market with a tech-focused, full-service approach. Oh, and no offices. And no associates. Founded in January 2024, New York-based Pierson Ferdinand became the largest law firm [...]
FCA to take control of anti-money laundering supervision of professional service firms in major reform October 21, 2025 The government’s reform of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision will significantly change and diminish the roles of the legal regulator and HMRC. Today, the Treasury revealed the outcome of its consultation on reforming anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing supervision, primarily for professional services, by creating a Single Professional Services Supervisor (SPSS), with the Financial [...]
Rolex is London’s most stolen luxury watch, but few recovered by Met Police October 21, 2025 Over 5,000 luxury watches have been stolen in London over the last three years, but barely one in 88 of these watches has been recovered by the Metropolitan Police. According to a Freedom of Information request seen by City AM, there have been 5,180 high-value watches, worth £3,000 or more, stolen between January 2022 and [...]
Waymo’s driverless taxi UK rollout puts legal system to the test October 21, 2025 The UK is set to become the first European country to welcome Waymo’s driverless taxis but lawyers caution that current laws are fundamentally incompatible with the technology. Last week, Waymo announced its UK launch will start with a small fleet of human-supervised Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles “in the coming weeks,” before moving to fully autonomous [...]
Execs see pound signs in AI tech, not just efficiency October 20, 2025 C-suite business executives are even more enthusiastic about AI than the lawyers and accountants at the professional services firms advising them. According to research by Thomson Reuters, 90 per cent of corporate C-suite leaders say AI will have ‘high’ or ‘transformational’ impact in the next five years, compared to just 80 per cent of lawyers [...]
UK legal sector sees strong growth but AI puts pressure on hourly billing system October 20, 2025 The legal sector in the UK continues to outperform despite challenging market conditions but the uncertainty around cyber attacks could impede firms’ strategic objectives. According to the PwC Law Firm Survey 2025, the Top 10 law firms have reported UK fee income growth of 8.1 per cent, compared to 5.2 per cent across all international [...]