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 firm sues prominent Emirati business family

August 18, 2026

London-headquartered law firm Charles Russell Speechlys has initiated legal action against investment entities controlled by the prominent Emirati business family Al-Sari, City AM can reveal, marking the latest development in an ongoing multi-jurisdictional dispute with its former client. The case stems from overlapping legal challenges involving entities in the Al-Sari family’s portfolio. The law firm, [...]
AIM-Listed Pulsar Group hit with High Court petition by HMRC

August 18, 2026

Pulsar Group, a UK-based technology company listed on AIM, and its media matchmaking subsidiary, ResponseSource, face a winding-up petition from HMRC. The group, formerly known as Access Intelligence, provides SaaS solutions for the global marketing, public relations and journalism sectors. A petition filed with the London High Court on Friday named it. Additionally, ResponseSource, the [...]
Brompton Bicycle sues former adviser for ‘professional negligence’

August 13, 2026

Folding bike firm Brompton Bicycle is set to sue its former accounting and tax advisor AAB Group for professional negligence, City AM can reveal. London-based Brompton has launched legal action in the High Court against the Scottish-headquartered business advisory firm, according to court records. The defendants are listed as AAB Business & Tax Advisory LLP, [...]
Meta glasses court ban sparks privacy warning for City businesses

August 13, 2026

Meta’s controversial smart glasses have been banned from courthouses across England, prompting lawyers to sound the alarm for businesses about growing legal risks surrounding the wearable tech. Earlier this week, it was revealed that His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) had confirmed that camera glasses were banned from its sites across England and Wales. [...]
AI gold rush leaves accountancy firms exposed to costly cyberattacks

August 12, 2026

Accountancy firms are pouring millions of pounds into AI, but the industry forgot to modernise security systems and is leaving itself exposed to costly cyberattacks. According to a report by software company Fastly, shared with City AM, more than 75 per cent of businesses that identified as AI-first, meaning they had integrated AI into core [...]
Top court ‘opens the floodgates’ for part-time workers’ claims

August 12, 2026

The Supreme Court “may have opened the floodgates to a large number of potential claims against employers” after ruling that part-time workers claiming discrimination do not need to prove their part-time status was the “sole reason” for less favourable treatment. The case was brought by Warren Augustine, a part-time private hire driver for Data Cars, [...]
Admiral profit slides as boss eyes push into EV insurance

August 6, 2026

Admiral suffered a drop in profit as the insurance giant was weighed down by lower earned premiums in its UK car business. The group’s profit before tax fell by 18 per cent to £429.2m in the first half of the year, while turnover remained flat at £3.11bn. Milena Mondini, group chief executive, told City AM [...]
Neurodiversity, employment law and ‘reasonable adjustments’ – the new HR headache

August 6, 2026

The death of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy in HR departments is a result of businesses being caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to neurodiversity in the workplace, as corporations battle to support staff within the bounds of very complex employment laws – and very personal interpretations of them. Over recent years, [...]
Exclusive: Sydney Opera House and Gherkin designer Arup loses finance chief

August 5, 2026

The design company behind the Sydney Opera House and Gherkin has been left without a finance chief after the former executive in the role quietly left the business, City AM has learned. Robert Boardman, who spent nearly seven years as chief financial officer at the blue-chip engineering, design, and professional services consultancy, resigned as a [...]
UK’s AI watchdog flags new OpenAI and Anthropic cyber alarms

August 5, 2026

Britain’s AI safety watchdog was forced to declare a security incident after frontier AI models, including Anthropic’s Mythos, went rogue during a routine test, autonomously spinning up fake identities in a bid to hack real-world software developers. The AI Safety Institute (AISI) revealed on Tuesday that during a cybersecurity evaluation in late, AI models unexpectedly [...]

Was the transfer window impacted by UK tax rules?

Was the transfer window impacted by UK tax rules?

These are the best literary hotels in Europe

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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