Pulse UK

  • November 25, 2025

    NCA Files Claim Against Withers, Tycoon Over £50M Trust

    The National Crime Agency has filed a High Court claim against a politician and tycoon and a subsidiary of Withers amid a dispute over his £50 million ($66 million) London property portfolio, which is held in trust by the law firm.

  • November 25, 2025

    Osborne Clarke Names Lara Burch As UK Senior Partner

    Osborne Clarke LLP has appointed the head of its office in Bristol as senior partner in the U.K., a new high point in a career at the firm that has spanned almost three decades.

  • November 25, 2025

    CILEX Wins Permission To Challenge Mazur Ruling

    The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has won permission to appeal against the ruling known as Mazur, which affirmed that legal executives and other unauthorized law firm staff could not conduct litigation, even with the supervision of a solicitor.

  • November 25, 2025

    Law Society Warns Of Litigation-Funding Risks After SSB Case

    The Law Society has urged the professional watchdog to conduct "robust checks" on the stability of law firm financing to help avoid another SSB Group-style collapse, warning of the risk posed by the third-party litigation-funding model.

  • November 25, 2025

    Littleton Names Adam Solomon KC As Head Of Chambers

    Littleton Chambers said Tuesday that Adam Solomon KC has been elected as its new head of chambers, as the London-based employment and commercial set embarks on the next phase in its history under a new leader.

  • November 25, 2025

    Shoosmiths Boosts Real Estate Services With London Hire

    Shoosmiths has appointed Steptoe International (UK) lawyer Jasvinder Sahotay as a partner in its London commercial real estate team.

  • November 24, 2025

    Cohen & Gresser Latest Law Firm To Eye Private Equity Deal

    New York-based Cohen & Gresser LLP, an international law firm with around 70 lawyers, is in talks to sell a stake in its business to a private equity investor, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.

  • November 24, 2025

    UK Legal Tech Faces Barriers Despite Rapid Expansion

    The U.K. legal tech sector could do with more support to keep pace with rising demand for legal services from consumers and businesses as technology redefines how they get help with their problems, a government-commissioned report has said.

  • November 24, 2025

    Scottish Lawyers Push To End Reform Delays After 15 Years

    A group of Scottish lawyers launched a campaign on Monday to end what it calls "regulatory inertia" over alternative business structures, 15 years after legislation paved the way for their introduction in the British nation.

  • November 24, 2025

    Paul Hastings Hires Fund Finance Pro From Haynes Boone

    Paul Hastings has added a fund finance partner to its London practice as the firm looks to strengthen its team in the face of a rapidly evolving and expanding market.

  • November 24, 2025

    Pogust's Brazil Shipwreck Case Stalls Over Authority Doubts

    Pogust Goodhead's ability to litigate on behalf of around 18,000 Brazilians following a shipwreck has been thrown into doubt after the 5-year-old case was stayed pending questions over whether the firm is authorized, recently published court documents have revealed.

  • November 24, 2025

    Dentons, Ashurst Among Firms On UK Gov't Legal Panel

    Dentons, Ashurst, DLA Piper U.K. and Hogan Lovells International were among the law firms to be appointed to the U.K. government's refreshed legal panel to advise departments and agencies on matters ranging from corporate finance to rail regulatory law over the next three years.

  • November 24, 2025

    Linklaters Launches 20-Strong Global AI Team

    Linklaters said on Monday that it has established a 20-strong global team of lawyers focused on artificial intelligence to help its practice groups get the most out of the new technology.

  • November 24, 2025

    City Law Society Launches New SQE Training Scholarship

    ​The City of London Law Society said Monday that it has kick-started a new scholarship to honor the legal sector leader Stephen Denyer, a bid to expand access to the solicitors' profession and strengthen social welfare law services across the northeast of England.

  • November 21, 2025

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

    This past week in London has seen Clyde & Co. face a claim from Yorkshire firm GWB Harthills, a property developer previously investigated over suspected bribery and corruption sue the general counsel and solicitor to HM Revenue and Customs, and sportswear giant Gymshark bring an intellectual property claim against its co-founder's rival company, AYBL. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • November 21, 2025

    Macfarlanes Uses AI To Broaden Trainee Recruitment Pool

    Macfarlanes LLP said Friday that it has introduced a new assessment for prospective trainees in London to reflect realistic tasks like the use of generative artificial intelligence, and to capture a more diverse socioeconomic group of aspiring lawyers.

  • November 21, 2025

    Clifford Chance To Restructure Business Services In London

    Clifford Chance is restructuring its business services operation in London, amid a rise in use of artificial intelligence technology and international operational hubs that provide support for its lawyers across the globe.

  • November 21, 2025

    Lawyers Failed Victims In Post Office Case, Study Finds

    Victims of the Post Office scandal were let down by their legal teams, lacking guidance from professional legal bodies and underfunded government legal aid programs, according to a study by legal academics published on Friday.

  • November 21, 2025

    UK Government Faces Backlash Over Juryless Trial Proposal

    Controversial plans to overhaul criminal law to bar some defendants from electing to be tried by a jury won't succeed in reducing the backlog of cases without long-term funding, and it suggests that the government is no longer able to deliver justice, experts said Friday. 

  • November 21, 2025

    The Revolving Door: 2 Ashurst Pros Leave After Perkins Deal

    Over the past week, two senior Ashurst partners have left to join Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper strengthened its finance practice with a fintech pro from Clifford Chance and a finance specialist from Goodwin Procter and Hill Dickinson added three partners to its Leeds office.

  • November 21, 2025

    600 CILEX Lawyers Seek Litigation Rights After Mazur Ruling

    Almost 600 chartered legal executives have lodged applications to gain litigation rights after the shock decision known as Mazur, which restricts which employees within a law firm can conduct litigation, cast their jobs into doubt.

  • November 20, 2025

    Willkie Hikes Up Partnership Promotions With 30-Atty Class

    Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP has announced that 30 of its attorneys from offices around the globe, who focus on a variety of practice areas, will be promoted to partner Jan. 1, more than its 19-member 2025 partner class.

  • November 20, 2025

    SQE2 Pass Rate Drops From Record High To 76%

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed that the pass rate for all candidates taking the second part of the solicitors qualifying examination was 76% in the latest sitting, down from a record figure it reported earlier in the year. 

  • November 20, 2025

    Lawyers Urged to Address Ethics Failures After Scandals

    Legal professionals should receive career-long ethics training to help repair the reputational hit the sector took after the U.K. Post Office Horizon scandal and other unethical practices, the House of Lords said in a report published Thursday.

  • November 20, 2025

    Solicitor Lied To Client's Wife About Seized Funds, SRA Says

    A criminal defense solicitor lied to an imprisoned client's wife by concealing the fact he was holding on to funds belonging to the client, the Solicitors Regulation Authority told a tribunal Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Squire Patton's Ranajoy Basu

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    Ranajoy Basu, global head of structured finance at Squire Patton, discusses the challenges of working on a transaction recognized by the G20 as a "game-changing financial innovation," the benefits of streamlining pretransaction due diligence, and why increased market activity in alternative asset securitizations is likely.

  • Opinion

    Collective Action Reform Can Save UK Court System

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    The crumbling foundations of Britain’s legal system require innovative solutions, such as investment in institutional infrastructure to reduce court backlogs, a widening of the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s remit and legislative clarity over litigation funding underpinning collective actions, says Neil Purslow at the International Legal Finance Association.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Baker Botts' Mark Castillo-Bernaus

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    Mark Castillo-Bernaus, global chair of project finance at Baker Botts, discusses the challenges of working on a global project financing in multiple time zones, the need for consistency in regulatory frameworks across different jurisdictions, and why lawyers who work constructively with clients and colleagues tend to deliver better outcomes.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Shakespeare's Selina Hinchliffe

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    Selina Hinchliffe, head of commercial services at Shakespeare Martineau, discusses the challenges of advising a large U.S. corporation on complex licensing issues, how copyright law is struggling to keep pace with technology, and why mastering contract drafting and negotiation is so important for IP lawyers.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From RPC's Patrick Brodie

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    Patrick Brodie, head of employment at RPC, discusses the challenges of working with government departments and National Health Service trusts to find common ground between competing interests, the increasing use of AI in recruitment and performance management, and why finding an exceptional mentor is so important.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Baker Botts' Neil Coulson

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    Neil Coulson, chair of intellectual property at Baker Botts, discusses the challenges of tackling a patent litigation with a short timetable, the post-Brexit delineation between the European Union's and the U.K.'s approaches to trademark examination, and why it is important to be able to discourse with clients easily on technical topics.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Freshfields' Kathleen Healy

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    Kathleen Healy, partner in London and co-leader of Freshfields' people and reward practice in Asia, discusses the challenges of advising on employment and industrial relations during the financial crisis, why the employment tribunal system would benefit from additional funding, and how reforming noncompete clauses will create plenty of legal and practical issues.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From HSF Kramer's Sarah McNally

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    Sarah McNally, head of the global insurance disputes practice at HSF Kramer, discusses the challenges of orchestrating an expedited proceeding during the pandemic, how document disclosure in litigation is becoming a huge burden, and why insurance is all-pervasive, and accordingly interesting and varied.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Shakespeare Martineau's Phil Pepper

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    Phil Pepper, head of employment at Shakespeare Martineau, discusses the challenges of working on a high-stakes case that progressed to the European Court of Justice, the need for reform of employees' rights legislation when a business transfers, and why lawyers should develop soft skills early in their careers.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Forbes' Kella Bowers

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    Kella Bowers, head of insurance at Forbes, discusses the challenges of balancing the needs of the people and institutions involved in child sexual abuse exploitation cases, why a preaction protocol for abuse work is needed, and how insurance law can enable lawyers to work on many hard-hitting issues.

  • AI Risks Legal Sector Must Consider In Dispute Resolution

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    Artificial intelligence presents significant opportunities to lawyers and decision-makers navigating increasingly data-heavy legal proceedings, but two recent cases provide a sobering reminder of the potential for misuse, say lawyers at White & Case.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Harbottle & Lewis' Yvonne Gallagher

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    Yvonne Gallagher, head of employment at Harbottle & Lewis, discusses the challenges of dealing with clients' emotions, the significance of the widening scope for discrimination disputes, and why junior lawyers should focus on learning the basic contractual and statutory principles of employment law. 

  • How Cos. Can Straddle US-UK Split On Work Misconduct, DEI

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    With U.K. regulators ordering employers to do more to prevent nonfinancial misconduct and discrimination, and President Donald Trump ordering the rollback of similar American protections, global organizations should prioritize establishing consistent workplace conduct frameworks to help balance their compliance obligations across the diverging jurisdictions, say lawyers at WilmerHale.

  • Viral Comms Crises Create Dual Corp. Governance Threats

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    As legislative hearings increase in frequency and social media fuels their reputational impact, corporate legal teams face a new dual challenge that reflects a fundamental shift in accountability and demands new strategies, governance frameworks and organizational capabilities, says Joanna Ludlam at Jenner & Block.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Mishcon's Richard Leedham

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    Richard Leedham, head of the commercial litigation practice and insurance disputes team at Mishcon de Reya, discusses the challenges of coordinating a complex lawsuit during lockdown, why the remedy for damages for late insurance claim payments is practically worthless, and the importance of focusing on hard legal argument in class actions.

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