By: Maria Ward-Brennan

Professional Services Editor Maria Ward-Brennan is the Professional Services Editor at City AM, focused on law, Big Four, and other management and accounting consulting firms. She edits the Beyond The Billable newsletter and column. She was previously a litigation reporter at The Lawyer. Contact her via email at maria.ward-brennan@cityam.com or on X @MariaW_B.

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City law firms considering corporate-style models amid capital crunch

July 23, 2026

Artificial intelligence investment may force top City firms to abandon the traditional limited liability partnership (LLP) mindset and behave like capital‑hungry corporates, a top legal finance firm has predicted. Speaking to City AM, Burford Capital’s chief operating officer, Travis Lenkner, and vice president, Patrick Savage, said City law firms that would never traditionally sell a controlling [...]
Former Southern Water boss charged with conspiracy to defraud

July 22, 2026

The former boss of Southern Water is among four of the water firm’s ex-employees set to face criminal proceedings for conspiracy to defraud. The Environment Agency (EA) alleges that between January 2012 and December 2017 Matthew Wright helped manipulate the operator self-monitoring testing regime by implementing “artificial no-flow events” at wastewater treatment works. The government [...]
Former Lloyd’s chief John Neal breached rules with undisclosed relationship

July 22, 2026

Former Lloyd’s of London chief executive John Neal fell “significantly below” expected standards in his workplace relationship with a colleague, an independent legal review by Freshfields has found. Neal had run the historic London insurance marketplace for over six years when he stepped down last year. He was in line to become president of general [...]
Layoffs and an executive exit: What’s going on at London’s first listed law firm?

July 22, 2026

Gateley, the City’s first listed law firm, is set to lose its chief executive and axe dozens of jobs as it grapples with a swelling cost base and fears of a slowdown in client spending. The group, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), informed shareholders on Tuesday that chief [...]
Magic Circle firm Linklaters sees partner profits soar to £2.5m after record year

July 21, 2026

Partners at magic circle law firm Linklaters saw pay packets double after the firm had its third consecutive year of double-digit profit growth. For its year to 30 April, 2026, Linklaters reported record revenue of £2.47bn, up nearly 7 per cent, and pre-tax profit of £1.2bn, up over 11 per cent, after hitting the billion-pound [...]
Rachel Reeves’ sister takes top legal role in Burnham’s Cabinet overhaul

July 21, 2026

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has picked Ellie Reeves, the sister of former Chancellor Rachel, to serve as the chief legal adviser to the government. Lord Richard Hermer KC, a close ally of Keir Starmer who played a pivotal role in shaping the legal and international stance of Starmer’s government, was dismissed as attorney general and [...]
Revealed: KPMG and Deloitte offer bumper redundancy packages to slash headcount

July 17, 2026

KPMG and Deloitte are offering UK staff bumper redundancy packages as they look to slash their headcount and trim costs, City AM can reveal. The two accountancy companies, as well as PwC, have all ramped up their payouts to employees after a slowdown in the sector’s traditional ‘attrition model’, in which around 15-20 per cent [...]
PwC slapped with multi-million fine for audit failures at FTSE 100 firm Babcock

July 16, 2026

Big Four giant PwC and a former partner have been fined over £5.5m for the audit failures of London-listed engineering giant Babcock International. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) issued disciplinary action against the firm and its audit partner, John Waters, following numerous serious audit breaches during the financial years 2019 and 2020 audits of the [...]
Elite English firms face uphill battle in fierce New York market

July 16, 2026

Elite City law firms face major financial and strategic hurdles breaking into the US legal market, as fierce competition for top talent and high partner compensation make organic growth and brand-building especially challenging, writes Maria Ward-Brennan Breaking into the US has been on the agenda of many elite English law firms, most notably four-fifths of [...]
Crown Prosecution Service caught using AI hallucination evidence

July 15, 2026

British courts have had to deal with yet another case of ‘AI hallucination’ evidence – this time from the agency responsible for conducting criminal prosecutions. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) issued two apologies to the High Court after it was found to have submitted documents in an extradition appeal citing two “non-existent” legal cases. The [...]

Nandy flags downsides of closer EU relations

Women’s football doesn’t need to become men’s football to succeed

The Capitalist: City AM reporter gets royal trashing by AI slop

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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