The year in law: Scale, survival, and the surge of the transatlantic titans Legal 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 [...]
UK legal sector books double-digit revenue growth in 2024 Legal Total revenue from legal activities in the UK reached a record £52.3bn in 2024, up 11 per cent from 2023, according to a new report by TheCityUK, published in partnership with Barclays. The UK boasts the world’s second-largest legal services market, trailing only the US, thanks to the dominance of English common law. Overall, the [...]
Government puts anti-corruption spotlight on ‘corrupt lawyers, bankers, and accountants’ Legal 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 [...]
UK profit dips at BDO as partner numbers hit record December 2, 2025 Mid-market accountancy giant BDO has seen its profit slip, with the firm blaming challenging market conditions and a significant increase in partner headcount for the decline. BDO UK delivered stable revenues of just £1bn over 2025, a slight dip after becoming a £1bn-turnover firm last year. Profit per equity partner (PEP) fell over 13 per [...]
Reeves vows to halve consultancy bill, but government can’t track its spending November 21, 2025 Despite the government setting an ambitious target to halve overall spending on consultants, a new report suggests, the lack of consistent data hinders efforts to track progress toward spending targets. Rachel Reeves has set targets to halve the UK government’s overall spending on consultants in 2025-26 and to save £550m in 2024-25, aiming for £700m [...]
PE-backed Grant Thornton defies market trends with recruitment drive November 18, 2025 Private equity-backed accountancy giant Grant Thornton is bucking the trend in the professional service market with its plans to recruit 160 new partners over the next two years. Back in December, the firm’s partners unanimously voted in favour of an investment from private equity firm Cinven in a deal expected to value the firm at up to [...]
PE, mergers, and AI: Professional services faces its most pivotal moment for 20 years November 18, 2025 The professional services industry is arguably going through its most critical time in the last 20 years. As it sits on its train to the future, where it jumps off will seal its fate, as each move firms take will be critical to what the industry may look like in the next 10 years. While [...]
New PE-backed consultancy launches with aim to fix ‘broken” system November 17, 2025 A new, AI-native consultancy firm has launched to address what its founders call the “broken” model of traditional consultancies, which they argue is costing businesses billions for ineffective AI projects. Backed by $15m (£11.4m) in private equity funding from NY-based Siguler Guff, UK-headquartered Valliance launches its “radical new model” of charging based on value delivered, [...]
LLP U-turn: Law Society demands ‘absolute clarity’ plan is off the table November 14, 2025 The professional services sector will breathe a sigh of relief as one of her reported rollbacks includes crossing out plans to target limited liability partnerships (LLPs) for tax. The LLP model, used by professional services such as law firms, accountancy, and some doctors (GPs), came into force 25 years ago, which does not pay corporate [...]
Private equity could soon own a piece of major US law firm November 12, 2025 US law firm McDermott Will & Schulte is reportedly exploring a complex restructuring to allow private equity firms to buy a stake in what could be a major move in the legal market. The proposed structure, as reported by the Financial Times, involves creating a managed service organisation (MSO), a separate entity in which outside [...]