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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Private equity-backed Ryan breaks with billable hour tradition as AI reshapes sector

June 9, 2026

Private equity-backed tax specialist Ryan says its value-based pricing is built for the age of AI, unlike competitors that depend on traditional hourly billing. Most of the professional services sector operates under the billable-hour system, in which the specific amount of time spent working on client tasks can be invoiced. But the rise in AI [...]
Regulator opens probe into PwC over WH Smith audit debacle

June 9, 2026

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has launched an investigation into PwC over its audit of WH Smith that resulted in delayed annual results last year. Last August, WH Smith shares plummeted by up to 40 per cent after it admitted to an accounting error that overstated expected headline trading profit in its North American business [...]
City law firm Shoosmiths invests extra £1m in firm’s bonus pot

June 8, 2026

City law firm Shoosmiths has doubled down on its commitment to AI after setting aside a second £1m for its bonus pot to help staff become AI-fluent through its new internal accreditation programme, City AM can reveal. Last year, the firm exclusively told City AM that it set a “clear and ambitious annual target” of one million [...]
Debenhams and Revolution unveil new beauty collaboration

June 8, 2026

Fast-fashion retailer Debenhams has formalised a royalty-based licensing partnership with Revolution Beauty to develop and distribute beauty and fragrance products across Debenhams’ brand portfolio. The first collections are expected to launch ahead of Christmas, featuring fragrance and gifting lines for PrettyLittleThing, Karen Millen, and boohooMAN. While further beauty and fragrance launches are planned across a [...]
Deputy PM to unveil AI labs to drag legal sector out of ‘analogue’ age

June 8, 2026

The UK government is launching a new AI growth project aimed squarely at dragging the UK’s billion-pound legal sector out of its “analogue” age. Ahead of London Tech Week, City AM can reveal that Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy will unveil ‘AI growth labs’, a regulatory safe space designed to cut through bureaucratic red tape [...]
City law firm boosts junior lawyer salaries to £189k in London

June 5, 2026

City-based law firm Quinn Emanuel has increased salaries for its most junior lawyers by 5 per cent for the 2026 financial year, as its London office aligns with pay increases at its US counterparts. Effective from 1 July 2026, London associates’ salaries will increase 5 per cent across the board, with newly-qualified (NQ) lawyers set [...]
KPMG scraps summer early Friday finish for staff

June 5, 2026

Big Four giant KPMG is revoking its Covid-19 employee benefit of letting staff clock off early on Fridays over the summer in the latest cut at the firm. The firm introduced the policy in 2021, focused on the summer, which is a quieter time in the City, to allow staff to take two and a [...]
Lex Greensill banned as company director for nine years after multi-billion-pound collapse

June 4, 2026

The UK Insolvency Service has confirmed that financier Lex Greensill will face a nine-year ban from serving as a company director, after he signed a legally binding disqualification undertaking to resolve long-running enforcement proceedings just days before a scheduled High Court trial. The Insolvency Service, which opened its probe into him in 2022, filed a [...]
Mishcon de Reya to roll out new ‘bonus boost’ for associates

June 4, 2026

City law firm Mishcon de Reya is offering its staff a ‘bonus boost’ for working additional hours to remain competitive in the legal pay race, City AM understands. The law firm has added a new ‘bonus boost’ to its pay structure, which will take effect in July 2027, for lawyers who record hours significantly above [...]
Millions left unclaimed as public awareness gap exposes flaws in class actions

June 4, 2026

While class actions are on the rise, limited public awareness means millions in settlement funds go unclaimed, highlighting the scepticism over who truly benefits from these legal actions, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. Despite the surge in class actions in the London High Court over the last number of years, there remains a large knowledge gap among [...]

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By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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