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 was previously a litigation reporter at The Lawyer. Contact her via email at maria.ward-brennan@cityam.com or X (Twitter) @MariaW_B.

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Asos shares uptick despite narrowing losses

April 23, 2026

Asos shares are up by more than 3 per cent on Thursday as the online fashion giant focuses on efforts to bear down on its losses. The group cut its pre-tax loss by more than £100m to £137.9m for the six months to the beginning of March, while revenue slid 14 per cent to £1.1bn. [...]
The AI cracks are starting to show at law firms

April 23, 2026

Law firms have poured vast sums into AI in a race to modernise, but ‘hallucinations‘ and security concerns are exposing the technology’s risks, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. There has been intense pressure on legal, advisory, and consultancy firms to invest in, embed, and deploy AI over the last couple of years, but this pressure is now [...]
Eight London sites raided in peer-to-peer crypto trading bust

April 22, 2026

The City watchdogs, working with HMRC and the Regional Organised Crime Unit, have carried out the first crackdown on illegal crypto trading across multiple London locations. The enforcement targeted eight premises in London suspected of illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The traders were issued cease-and-desist letters at each site, notifying [...]
Elite law firm apologises for AI ‘hallucinations’ in bankruptcy case

April 22, 2026

An elite US law firm has had to apologise to a judge after its restructuring team made a filing in a high-profile case that contained multiple AI generated ‘hallucinations’. The head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s restructuring practice, Andrew Dietderich, apologised in a letter to the New York federal judge for mistakes that included misquoting the [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jitter as inflation surges; Trump extends ceasefire

April 22, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. Inflation has surged this morning follow the outbreak of war in Iran. Fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown the consumer price index rose by 3.3 per cent in the 12 months to March 2026. That’s up from three per cent [...]
Admiral CEO attributes FTSE giant’s staff retention to share awards scheme

April 22, 2026

FTSE 100 insurance giant CEO Milena Mondini tells senior reporter Maria Ward-Brennan that Admiral’s share awards plan has significantly contributed to staff retention. Admiral Group stands out as one of the UK’s most successful insurance companies, with an internal focus on staff retention and employee happiness. CEO Milena Mondini told City AM, “We wanted people [...]
Trojan tools: AI is professional services’ newest cyber liability

April 21, 2026

As the UK government ramps up pressure on businesses to strengthen their cyber defences over Anthropic’s Mythos, professional services firms are already feeling increasingly anxious about cybersecurity. In the last month, a hacker gained access to one of Bain & Co’s internal AI tools, which followed another attack that exposed cybersecurity flaws in a system [...]
Clio founder: We may not have the hype of Jude Law, but our data beats any AI rival

April 21, 2026

Legal tech Clio’s boss tells senior reporter Maria Ward-Brennan that, with rivals closing in, the firm is betting that proprietary data, not hype, will determine its competitive edge in the AI race.In a competitive landscape, Clio founder and CEO Jack Newton believes his legal tech firm is in a “great position” in the marketplace, because [...]
Top civil servant calls on lawyers advice over Mandelson vetting dismissal

April 20, 2026

Sir Olly Robbins, who is set to answer MPs’ questions over Lord Peter Mandelson’s appointment, is reportedly taking legal advice after he was ousted over the vetting scandal. Last week, Robbins, the Foreign Office permanent under-secretary, was dismissed after it emerged that the disgraced Mandelson had been denied clearance in a security vetting process. Mandelson [...]
Judge throws out Richard Desmond’s billion-pound lottery case

April 17, 2026

Media tycoon Richard Desmond has lost his billion-pound legal battle against the Gambling Commission over the 2022 National Lottery license. Desmond’s group, Northern and Shell, and its subsidiary, the New Lottery Company, launched a £1.3bn legal action against the Gambling Commission after it awarded the next licence to Czech gambling group Allwyn. The procurement competition for [...]

City sounds alarm on £40bn foreign M&A offensive targeting ‘cheap’ UK firms

Championship clubs up promotion gamble by adopting new financial rules

Why now is the perfect time to visit Cyprus

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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