Pulse UK

  • July 08, 2025

    MoJ Staffer Wins £29K Over Refusal Of WFH Requests

    The Ministry of Justice has agreed to pay £29,100 ($39,500) to an administrative officer after admitting that its refusal to let her work from home during bouts of migraine was discriminatory.

  • July 08, 2025

    Appeal Win Gives Certainty To UK Class Action Funding

    The Court of Appeal's decision to endorse the validity of litigation-financing agreements devised to sidestep a U.K. Supreme Court ruling that upended class action funding provides certainty over what is allowed, but lawyers remain wary that further legislative changes are likely.

  • July 08, 2025

    Oil Co. Says Nigeria Shouldn't Profit From £44M Legal Bill

    An oil and gas company at the center of a fraud scandal arising from an $11 billion arbitration award issued against Nigeria urged the U.K.'s highest court Tuesday to change the currency for Nigeria's legal costs, arguing that the country would unjustly benefit from the depreciation of its own currency.

  • July 08, 2025

    Students Get Review Panel To Weigh Late SQE Appeals

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has introduced a new review panel for late appeals from candidates sitting the Solicitors Qualifying Exam, part of a broader series of changes to its appeals and complaints policies designed to make those processes clearer and fairer.

  • July 08, 2025

    Howden Teams Up With Law Firm For Crypto Theft Product

    Broking giant Howden has released a cryptocurrency theft insurance and recovery product in partnership with law firm Lawrence Stephens, in what it called a first-of-its-kind solution for the sector. 

  • July 08, 2025

    Ban On Misconduct NDAs Throws Settlements Into Question

    The government's proposal to void nondisclosure agreements covering alleged harassment and discrimination at work will discourage employers from settling claims, putting more pressure on tribunals and early conciliation services.

  • July 08, 2025

    Spanish Firm Nixes 'LegalFly' AI Tech Trademark

    A Spanish law firm has convinced European officials to nix a trademark registered by a company using artificial intelligence to review and draft documents, ruling that lawyers would mix up the similar-looking signs.

  • July 08, 2025

    Cripps, Michelmores Drop Merger Plans After Talks

    Two English law firms said Tuesday they had ended talks to merge to form a nearly £100 million ($135 million) firm, as legal practices reassess growth strategies amid rapid technological change and intensifying competition.

  • July 08, 2025

    Ex-Law Firm Owner Barred For Breaches Of Accounts Rules

    A defunct law firm's former owner has been disqualified for failing to pay legal expenses with money from the Legal Aid Agency and for allowing a client account shortage to exist of more than £50,000 ($67,800).

  • July 08, 2025

    Ex-Axiom Chief Ordered To Pay £5M SRA Intervention Costs

    A London court ordered the former chief of Axiom Ince Ltd. to pay the multimillion-pound cost of regulatory intervention into the firm on Tuesday after concluding that he was involved with its misuse of £65 million ($88 million) of its clients' cash.

  • July 07, 2025

    Pinsent Masons To Use ContractPodAi's Leah AI

    Pinsent Masons LLP said Monday that it will adopt the automated legal assistant Leah from contract management software provider ContractPod Technologies Ltd., aka ContractPodAi, for use in its managed legal services offering.

  • July 07, 2025

    Ashurst Adds Director To Help Boost AI And Digital Offerings

    London-headquartered law firm Ashurst announced the hiring of a former executive director with the Centre for Legal Innovation at the College of Law Australia as director overseeing the firm's digital enablement team as part of its legal services division.

  • July 07, 2025

    Gide Hires Restructuring Partner From HSF Kramer In Paris

    Gide Loyrette Nouel has strengthened its restructuring team in Paris with the hire of a new partner from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP.

  • July 07, 2025

    Law Firm Gets 'Vague' £4.6M Negligence Case Struck Out

    A London court struck out on Monday an energy company's £4.6 million ($6.3 million) claim against Benson Mazure LLP, because the law firm would have unreasonable difficulty understanding and responding to the "vague and confused" case.

  • July 07, 2025

    Funder Claims Developer Used Biz As Facade To Pocket £4M

    A litigation funder has alleged that a property developer owes it more than £3.8 million ($5.2 million) for pocketing his real estate business' money for nothing in return and operating his company as a facade to renovate properties he owns without taking on liability for the work.

  • July 07, 2025

    Opera House Faces £350K Libel Claim Over Settlement Breach

    A writer and former fundraising executive has brought a legal claim against an English opera house and Loch Employment Law, alleging that both sides breached a legal settlement by repeating damaging allegations in a later court filing.

  • July 07, 2025

    Waste Co. Blames Trowers & Hamlins For Lost Tenancy

    A waste haulage company has accused Trowers & Hamlins of negligently failing to protect a long-standing lease over its premises, telling a London court that its new arrangement does not have the same favorable terms.

  • July 07, 2025

    HFW's Revenue Tops £270M In New High Amid Growth Push

    Holman Fenwick Willan LLP said Monday that its revenue has hit an all-time high of more than £270 million ($368 million) and that it has posted record profits as its strategy for growing the business shows success.

  • July 04, 2025

    AI Startup Legora Aims To Reshape Law Firm-Client Dynamics

    In-house lawyers might send an email or get on the phone when they want to talk to outside counsel. But the head of artificial intelligence startup Legora tells Law360 he sees a future where a client's first port of call might be an artificial intelligence tool offered by a law firm.

  • July 04, 2025

    BSB Looks To Speed Up Disciplinary Process With Reforms

    The Bar Standards Board has proposed that it will give staff broader powers to refer cases for disciplinary action and trimming tribunal panels under plans to modernize its enforcement system after recent criticism of its efficiency and transparency.

  • July 04, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    The past week in London has seen the owner of Crystal Palace and the troubled Olympique Lyonnais football clubs sue its current chief executive John Textor, Fieldfisher faces a claim by Georgian businessman Zaza Okusahvili, and a dispute partner at Travers Smith file a personal injury claim against the firm.

  • July 04, 2025

    Axiom Staffer Can't Boost Award After Dismissal Claims Win

    An employment tribunal has rejected an attempt by a member of Axiom's staff to boost her award after the firm failed to carry out a redundancy consultation before mass dismissals, ruling that her application for reconsideration was "misconceived." 

  • July 04, 2025

    The Revolving Door: Cleary Gottlieb Snags Kirkland Tax Pro

    Over the past week, Cleary Gottlieb expanded its London tax capabilities with a Kirkland & Ellis hire, Fieldfisher recruited the founder of Carter-Ruck's sanctions practice and Charles Russell Speechlys added a WilmerHale partner to its disputes and investigations team.

  • July 04, 2025

    HFW Raises London NQ Salaries To £104K Amid Competition

    Holman Fenwick Willan LLP has hiked the salaries of newly qualified lawyers at its London office to £103,500 ($141,220), joining other law firms that have unveiled pay rises for those who have completed their training to become solicitors.

  • July 04, 2025

    Ex-Jones Day Partner Faces SDT Over Evidence Destruction

    A former private equity partner at Jones Day has been referred to a disciplinary tribunal after a London court held him in contempt of court for instructing an IT manager to delete a secure messaging app, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has said.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Cleary's Sebastian Sperber

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    Sebastian Sperber, leader of Cleary's EMEA capital markets and debt finance practice, discusses the challenges of working on complex transactions in pre-internet days, why regulators should think carefully before imposing additional disclosure burdens on corporations, and his hope that the recent U.K. listing reforms will encourage more companies to choose to list in London.

  • What Age Bias Ruling Means For Law Firm Retirement Policies

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    The recent employment tribunal age discrimination decision in Scott v. Walker Morris demonstrates that while law firms may implement mandatory retirement schemes, the policy must pursue a legitimate aim via proportionate means to pass the objective justification test, says Chris Hadrill at Redmans Solicitors.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From HFW's Christopher Foster

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    Christopher Foster, global head of insurance and reinsurance at HFW, discusses the challenges of conducting complex arbitration, why arbitration rules should be amended, and how learning about the market makes working in insurance law easier.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Broadfield's Sajjad Khan

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    Sajjad Khan, head of Broadfield's intellectual property practice, discusses how trademark matters that appear to be simple can end up being complex, why the regulatory framework for artificial intelligence and copyright is in clear need of reform, and how junior lawyers should persevere if interested in this competitive area of law.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Cleary's Gareth Kristensen

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    Gareth Kristensen, head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa intellectual property practice group at Cleary, discusses the challenges when data laws are not adapted to frontier artificial intelligence, why IP rights can have such significant value, and how nothing beats a deep understanding of what you enjoy within the realm of tech, IP and data.

  • Series

    PR Perspectives: 3 Misconceptions Around Law Firm Brands

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    Despite an implicit understanding of the value of brand, misconceptions around logo and financial value have resulted in law firms being slow to manage and build this valuable asset, without which it becomes difficult to attract the same caliber of client or recruit the best lawyers, says Daniela Conte at Gibson Dunn.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Covington's Sonia Campbell

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    Sonia Campbell, head of the U.K. insurance recovery practice at Covington, discusses the challenges of working during the COVID-19 pandemic, why cyber underwriting risk will be critical for sector reform, and how junior lawyers need to be resilient and tenacious.

  • Roundup

    Practice Leader Insights

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    In this Law360 U.K. Expert Analysis series, leaders of employment, intellectual property, insurance and transactions practice groups share thoughts on keeping the pulse on legal trends, tackling difficult cases and what it takes to make a mark in their area.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Bird & Bird's Rebecca O'Kelly-Gillard

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    Rebecca O'Kelly-Gillard, who co-heads Bird & Bird's international copyright group, discusses the challenges of working on long cases with complex issues, whether current copyright law is fit for purpose in light of artificial intelligence, ​​​​​​​and why understanding technology makes it easier to argue the nuances of the law.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Birketts' Maria Peyman

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    Maria Peyman, who heads Birketts' intellectual property team, discusses the challenges of cases involving multiple patents, the need to reform legislative provisions in light of artificial intelligence, and why junior lawyers should take opportunities to get a broad range of experience before specializing.

  • Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises

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    “No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Mishcon de Reya's Daniel Naftalin

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    Daniel Naftalin, who chairs the employment practice at Mishcon de Reya, discusses the challenges of working on multijurisdictional litigation, the need to show consideration for lawyers' well-being, and why employment law offers unique opportunities to specialize in a commercial field with a high degree of human interest.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Baker McKenzie's David Scott

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    David Scott, head of the London mergers and acquisitions practice at Baker McKenzie, discusses the excitement of working on a highly complex transaction, the need for a harmonized approach to deal regulatory scrutiny, and why deal work can become addictive.

  • Transatlantic Law Firm Mergers Are Transforming UK Market

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    With the current prevalence for high-profile U.K.-U.S. law firm mergers likely to continue, a new type of firm could emerge that strikes a balance between U.K. culture and working style, but with the global ambition that U.S. firms offer, says Ria Karnik at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Taylor Wessing's Paul Callaghan

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    Paul Callaghan, who leads Taylor Wessing's employment, pensions and mobility group, discusses the challenges of clients who take matters personally, why discrimination based on socioeconomic background needs to be addressed by the law, and how being contracted as an independent investigator is becoming a new trend for senior employment lawyers.

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