Banning non-competes is a hollow victory — firms will just ramp up gardening leave Legal The Prime Minister revealed last Friday that the government will curb non-compete clauses in employment contracts, a move that has raised some eyebrows in the City. But despite business pushback over yet another overhaul of employment laws, City lawyers have already been 10 steps ahead with alternatives, Maria Ward-Brennan writes. Andy Burnham, in his speech [...]
Labour’s band-aid won’t save the justice system from collapse Legal When the buildings designed to deliver justice are infested with rats, it is no surprise that the system itself is rotting from the inside out, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. The terrible state of the justice system is by now well understood, but with the government’s most controversial plan to relive the pressure now partially scrapped, the [...]
The sugar rush is over: The Big Four must wake up from their pandemic dream Big Four The pandemic was the worst thing that could have happened to the Big Four giants and the overall consultancy market. At the time, these firms were flying high, flooded with inquiries from businesses needing help to navigate the ‘once-in-a-lifetime ‘ event, but this ‘sugar rush’ didn’t last forever, and it gave the industry a false [...]
How AI is forcing the Big Four to rethink graduate training September 23, 2026 The Big Four giants – KPMG, Deloitte, EY, and PwC – have for decades played an important role in shaping the next generation of City workers. As one of the largest graduate trainers in the UK, their approach to restructuring graduate programmes in the age of AI will be crucial to the future of financial [...]
Clean up or lawyer up: The FCA’s culture war gets real September 16, 2026 With the City watchdog empowered to penalise non-financial misconduct and fresh off a win at the Upper Tribunal, lawyers now expect to be flooded with work from businesses that are grappling with the focus on culture, as bullying, harassment, and serious misconduct are no longer just HR matters, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. The Financial Conduct Authority [...]
Why Labour can’t kick Whitehall’s consultancy habit September 9, 2026 Since coming to power, Labour has been vocal about cutting spending on external consultants to save taxpayers money. However, data suggests it has actually moved in the opposite direction, as the private sector shows it is a necessity and not a luxury, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. The pledge to cut back on external consultants was first [...]
The common sense deficit hitting the City’s professional services firms September 2, 2026 The rise of AI has put serious pressure on professional services firms to figure out hiring and training strategies as an industry built to sell knowledge faces a knowledge gap as a new era enters the workforce with skills very different from the cohort ahead of them, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. Much of the conversation about [...]