Lawyers warn farmers: Labour’s U-turn on IHT threshold “not an all-clear” December 24, 2025 Lawyers warned that, despite Labour’s U-turn on the inheritance tax relief threshold for farms, many agricultural families may still be impacted, and significant tax burdens may remain for some estates. In a whiplash U-turn, the Labour government revealed on Tuesday that, after a year of backlash from rural communities, it would increase the Agricultural and [...]
The year in law: Scale, survival, and the surge of the transatlantic titans December 23, 2025 From the birth of new transatlantic titans to a government-led rescue of the litigation funding market, 2025 has seen the City’s legal landscape rewritten by a relentless pursuit of scale and a newfound reliance on the machine. The legal sector started the year with US President Donald Trump attacking the industry, as Trump vs Big [...]
Government puts anti-corruption spotlight on ‘corrupt lawyers, bankers, and accountants’ December 9, 2025 The UK government launched a new anti-corruption strategy targeting “professional enablers”, such as “corrupt lawyers, accountants and bankers” who help dirty money flow. It is estimated that over £100bn is laundered through the UK every year by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The corruption has also affected British businesses, which have faced 117,000 bribe offers [...]
Employment Rights Bill: Labour moves to scrap compensation cap for unfair dismissal December 5, 2025 Businesses could face unlimited compensation for unfair dismissal claims as Labour seeks to appease unions after it abandoned ‘day one’ rights last week. After weeks of Employment Rights Bill ping-ponging over the controversial ‘day one’ rights, the government agreed last week to drop its pledge of ‘day one’ rights in exchange for rights over six [...]
The Gulf gamble: American and British law firms racing to Saudi Arabia October 30, 2025 Saudi Arabia is rapidly becoming the focus of global legal attention. But this shift is not merely speculative; it is part of a calculated move by the Kingdom to attract world-class expertise. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia changed its law two years ago to allow foreign law firms to operate independently, as part of its [...]
Labour faces setback as Lords boots back workers’ rights Bill October 29, 2025 The Employment Rights Bill failed to clear the final hurdle, as the House of Lords ping-ponged it back to MPs for further debate over disputed points, including the controversial granting of ‘day one’ rights. The highly contested Bill, which was a significant part of Labour’s manifesto, will see a major overhaul in the UK’s employment [...]
Top court sides with HMRC as NHS hospitals liable for VAT on parking fees October 29, 2025 HMRC brought a case against a branch of NHS hospitals to the Supreme Court over whether VAT should have been charged on hospital car parking fees, and they’ve succeeded. Today marks the end of a five-year legal battle through each court stage over VAT on parking tickets used by patients, visitors, and hospital staff at [...]
City watchdog accused of ‘massive overreach’ in motor finance clampdown October 28, 2025 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has been accused of a “massive overreach” following letters sent to law firms and claims management companies (CMCs) requesting batches of information under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers law. The FCA sent letters in August, seen by City AM, requesting information on the law firms’ motor finance services, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]