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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Millions spent, reputations battered: Fraud watchdog, Dechert and ENRC legal war reaches an end

September 2, 2026

Years of bitter litigation, millions of pounds in legal fees, and severe reputational damage: the disastrous, decade-long feud between a Kazakh mining giant, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), and a heavy-hitting City law firm has finally ended with a confidential settlement. Mining firm Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) launched legal action against the law firm [...]
Ditch the ‘usual suspects’: Gov.uk founder urges Labour to look beyond Big Four consultants

September 2, 2026

Labour has loudly pledged to slash taxpayer spending on external consultants. However, the founder of a City-based digital consultancy firm told City AM that the government still relies on private firms to plug operational gaps because the civil service previously “got rid of the wrong skills”. Ben Terrett, chief executive and founder of Public Digital, said the [...]
The common sense deficit hitting the City’s professional services firms

September 2, 2026

The rise of AI has put serious pressure on professional services firms to figure out hiring and training strategies as an industry built to sell knowledge faces a knowledge gap as a new era enters the workforce with skills very different from the cohort ahead of them, writes Maria Ward-Brennan. Much of the conversation about [...]
City firms face FCA clampdown on bullying and harassment

September 1, 2026

City bosses are set for fresh scrutiny over the conduct of their staff as the financial regulator extends a clampdown on non-financial misconduct issues like bullying and harassment. After years of consultation, surveys and industry feedback, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new rules on non-financial misconduct in non-banking firms take effect on Tuesday for around [...]
Affluent Big Four partners lack ‘fire in the belly’ to disrupt consulting market

August 27, 2026

The trend of Big Four partners leaving to launch boutique consultancies has accelerated in recent years. But Q5 co-founder has told City AM that many will struggle to build true challenger brands without an “all or nothing” approach. Five founders, including managing partner Olly Purnell, launched boutique consultancy firm Q5 at the height of the global financial [...]
Trump’s tough stance on DEI costs Big Four giant Deloitte millions

August 26, 2026

Deloitte has agreed to pay the US government $21.5m to settle allegations that it violated federal ‘equal opportunity’ requirements in its contracts, as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The US Justice Department claimed that from 2017 to the present, the Big Four giant had falsely said it had complied [...]
City leaders weigh employment policy alternatives to non-competes

August 25, 2026

City businesses are expecting non-compete agreements to become less effective, looking instead to alternatives such as deferred bonus payments or share incentive plans to keep employees on board. In 2025, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) launched a consultation to consider restrictions on non-compete clauses in employment contracts. The consultation closed for feedback in [...]
KPMG seeks financial support from parent group in wake of audit scandal

August 24, 2026

KPMG Australia has asked its parent company for financial support and laid off hundreds of staff after an audit scandal rocked the Big Four firm’s business down under. In its annual results on Monday, the Australian arm of the accounting group said it will cut its workforce by five per cent and partner pay by [...]
Incoming FRC chair sits on board of construction group facing criminal probe

August 19, 2026

The woman in line to become chair of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) sits on the board of a company currently under criminal investigation, City AM can reveal. Dame Jayne-Anne Gadhia was named by the government last month as the next chair of the accounting watchdog and is set to take over in September when [...]
Law firm at centre of BHP mammoth lawsuit sued by its own funder

August 18, 2026

City law firm Pogust Goodhead is facing an £84m lawsuit from its own funder over a dispute related to its high-profile case: the record-breaking group action against mining giant BHP. The firm, formerly known as PGMBM, recently secured a major victory in one of the largest legal actions ever heard in the English courts. Last [...]

HMRC investigations into football net extra £110m

HMRC investigations into football net extra £110m

Cloth Cornhill review: A London icon returns – and it’s fabulous

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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