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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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 of London urges action on Swiss border as EES holds up business travellers

April 17, 2026

City of London officials are pressing Switzerland to allow UK travellers to use automated passport gates to end the long airport queues that have become a regular gripe for business travellers. The new EU Entry/Exit System (EES), which covers the Schengen area, rolled out last week, and it has resulted in lengthy queues at airports [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery as Starmer makes play to reopen Strait of Hormuz

April 17, 2026

Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The UK and France are set to co-chair a meeting with allies later today in a bid to strum up ways to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. The vital waterway, which sits off Iran’s coast, sees around a fifth of the world’s oil supply flow [...]
Legal sector hits £60bn as top City lawyers pocket millions

April 16, 2026

Despite a backdrop of global economic uncertainty, the legal profession has solidified its position as a £60bn powerhouse, with top City lawyers bringing home multi-million pound pay packets. Law firms are experiencing their highest growth in more than 15 years, according to a new report by the Law Society. The average earnings for law firms [...]
UK rejoins Erasmus: British students to study across Europe from 2027

April 16, 2026

Six years after Brexit, British students will soon be able to study and work across Europe again, as the UK formally re-joins the Erasmus programme. The legal text, signed in Brussels on Wednesday, is intended to bring the UK back into the programme in 2027 after the UK pulled out of in December 2020 as [...]

‘Pendulum swung too far’: AIM hit with 222 delistings ahead of nomad changes

Everton ‘surprised and angered’ at losing £40m legal case with Burnley

How The Macallan mastered the long game

By: Maria Ward-Brennan

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