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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Deloitte UK advisory arm rebounds to growth as new boss insists AI ‘can’t replace lived experience’

September 30, 2026

Big Four giant Deloitte’s new UK boss, Darren Graves, insisted AI “can’t replace lived experience” as the firm’s advisory arms return to growth. Revenue for the year ended 31 May 2026 for the UK arm was up 2 per cent to £5.81bn, with growth across all businesses. The firm’s technology and transformation arm led with 4 [...]
Grant Thornton takes on Big Four giants with new £40K salary for London grads

September 29, 2026

Grant Thornton has raised its London graduate starting salary to £40,000 and introduced “milestone bonuses” into the pay structure as part of the firm’s ambition for significant growth. The private equity-backed firm has overhauled its early careers programme, first reported by City AM in April, and will offer ‘market-leading’ starting salaries to London juniors of £40,000 from [...]
British bosses face compliance headache over delayed EU pay transparency rules

September 28, 2026

British businesses are still troubled by complex European Union pay transparency laws after a delayed, fragmented rollout across the bloc. The EU pay transparency directive requires member states to mandate that companies disclose starting salaries and pay ranges in job listings, and some businesses must report gender pay gaps. The rules aim to ensure equal [...]
The Times publisher deploys AI legaltech support lawyers – and reporters

September 28, 2026

The publisher behind The Times and The Sun is bringing AI into the newsroom after investing in a legaltech tool that scans vast amounts of copy for libel and legal risks in minutes. News UK has invested in ClearDraft, an AI-powered content-clearance platform founded by media lawyers Alex Wade and David Burgess in late 2025. [...]
Consultancy firms told to step up as bosses threaten to cut ties

September 28, 2026

Stretched corporates are under pressure and looking to slash costs – and consultancy firms are in the firing line, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. The golden age of post-pandemic consulting is fading, leaving traditional advisory firms with a clear ultimatum: innovate or be replaced. The next generation of executives is pushing to reduce dependence on external consultants. [...]
Deloitte’s tech consulting division weighs on growth

September 24, 2026

Deloitte reported a rise in revenue in its latest financial year even as growth in its technology and transformation division slipped lower, as the consultancy sector comes under pressure from artificial intelligence. The Big Four firm reported global revenue of $74.5bn (£56.37bn) for the 12 months to the end of May, up from $70.5bn the [...]
Hugging Face hack spells ’emergency for the City of London’, warns top lawyer

September 24, 2026

Everything companies have done to prepare for a cyber attack is now “completely old world” following the OpenAI–Hugging Face hack over the summer, a top City lawyer has warned. The “unpredecented” July hack, in which OpenAI’s model escaped a controlled test by itself and broke into the AI platform Hugging Face, prompted a probe from [...]
How AI is forcing the Big Four to rethink graduate training

September 23, 2026

The Big Four giants – KPMG, Deloitte, EY, and PwC – have for decades played an important role in shaping the next generation of City workers. As one of the largest graduate trainers in the UK, their approach to restructuring graduate programmes in the age of AI will be crucial to the future of financial [...]
Drone strikes and noise disputes: The soaring risks of the global data centre boom

September 18, 2026

As data centres scale, consume more power, and draw tighter community scrutiny, insurance risks are becoming increasingly complex. As AI infrastructure grows, so do legal risks: large lawsuits involving data centres more than tripled from four in all of 2021 to 14 in the first half of 2026, according to a Howden report. Planning and [...]
Tories consult senior barrister over ‘outrageous’ Wandsworth tax hike

September 18, 2026

Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservative party has consulted a senior barrister to challenge the government over local funding cuts, following the recent controversy over looming tax hikes at Wandsworth Council. Wandsworth Council, which is Tory-run, has recently announced that taxes will rise by 94 per cent for ‘band D’ residents, resulting in taxpayers having [...]

Nandy flags downsides of closer EU relations

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

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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