Pulse UK

  • October 22, 2026

    UK To Track Diversity Data For Barristers On Public Panels

    The government said Thursday its legal department will collect self-declared diversity data from barristers applying to its panels to monitor whether work and fees are distributed fairly across backgrounds.

  • October 22, 2026

    New Weil-Willkie Domains Add To Merger Speculation

    Two domain names that combine the names of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP have been registered, fueling speculation about a potential merger between the two prominent Wall Street law firms.

  • October 21, 2026

    Weil Loses 2 More Lawyers To Paul Weiss' London PE Team

    Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP has hired two more lawyers from Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP to strengthen its London private equity practice, the latest in a string of departures from the Wall Street law firm as merger rumors swirl. 

  • October 21, 2026

    Legora Hits $8.8B Valuation In $550M Funding Round

    Sweden-based Legora, which offers a legal artificial intelligence platform, announced on Wednesday the raising of a $550 million Series E at an $8.8 billion post-money valuation for the purposes of expanding further into North America.

  • October 21, 2026

    MoJ Proposes 2.3% Judges' Pay Rise Amid Budget Pressures

    The Ministry of Justice has proposed a judicial pay rise of around 2% for the next financial year, citing fiscal constraints and competing spending priorities within the department.

  • October 21, 2026

    ENRC Presses For SFO Official's Legal Retainer Info

    Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. urged a London judge Wednesday to order lawyers for a Serious Fraud Office investigator to file a sworn statement that they had handed over all documents relevant to their retainer with him in a £1.8 million ($2.4 million) costs dispute.

  • October 21, 2026

    Zurich Turns To Standard Life For New UK General Counsel

    Swiss insurance giant Zurich said Wednesday it has appointed a new general counsel in the U.K. who joins from rival Standard Life.

  • October 21, 2026

    Lawyers Can't Shift Blame For AI Errors, Law Society Warns

    Solicitors must stay on top of their professional competence and are accountable when they use artificial intelligence systems, the Law Society said Wednesday as the technology becomes increasingly integral to legal work.

  • October 21, 2026

    MoJ Reveals £49M London Tribunal Center Overspend

    London's new tribunal hearings center came in £49.3 million ($66 million) over budget, the Ministry of Justice has revealed after obscuring its overspend on the development.

  • October 20, 2026

    BCLP Sets Pay Raises For Associates, Trainees By Location

    Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP announced Tuesday it is raising the pay for associates and trainees as part of a regular review of its compensation structures.

  • October 20, 2026

    Jones Day Ups NQ Salary To £170K In London

    Jones Day has increased the salary of newly qualified solicitors in London to £170,000 ($227,000) as law firms push to remain competitive in the battle to secure junior talent.

  • October 20, 2026

    SRA Closes Law Firm In Northwest England To Protect Clients

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has closed down a law firm based in northwest England to protect the interests of clients and former clients, after it provided legal services for more than 100 years.

  • October 20, 2026

    Funding For Legal Tech Sector On Track To Top £400M In 2026

    The U.K.'s legal technology industry is likely to set a new record and pass £400 million ($534 million) in funding in 2026, but fewer companies are expected to receive investment as investors become more selective about where they deploy capital, according to a report from LawtechUK.

  • October 20, 2026

    Google Cloud Outage Hits Banks, Halts Court Hearings

    Trials and court hearings were disrupted Tuesday by a Google Cloud outage that hit the courts' video system, which is used for remote hearings.

  • October 20, 2026

    Rugby Players Get Reprieve To Fix 'Huge' Disclosure Task

    Lawyers running a rugby players' concussion group litigation must provide clarity over who will lead the case to trial, a London judge said at a hearing Tuesday as he granted another conditional reprieve over failures to disclose medical records.

  • October 20, 2026

    Ex-Apprentice Barred For Hiding Arrest From Law Firm

    A former apprentice solicitor has been barred from working at a law firm unless the regulator gives permission after he dishonestly concealed his arrest from his employer.

  • October 20, 2026

    Lawfront Persists In £4.6M Case Against Slater Heelis Partners

    Lawfront has hit back at five current and former partners of Slater Heelis amid an ongoing feud over its acquisition of the firm, doubling down on its claim that the lawyers owe £4.6 million ($6.1 million) under the sale.

  • October 27, 2026

    MoFo Hires Ashurst Tech M&A Co-Head As AI Demand Grows

    Morrison Foerster LLP has hired the former global co-head of the technology mergers and acquisitions group at Ashurst Perkins Coie as the firm responds to growing demand for expertise in artificial intelligence.

  • October 19, 2026

    Freshfields Sorry After Emailed Remark On Mideast Funds

    Freshfields LLP apologized on Monday "unreservedly" for a comment about Middle Eastern investors after a leaked email exchange between the firm's global managing partner and another senior lawyer at the firm revealed plans by the firm's leadership to spin off its German-based AI unit.

  • October 19, 2026

    AI Co. Legora Partners With Tax Research Platform Blue J

    Sweden-based Legora, which offers a legal artificial intelligence platform, announced Monday a partnership with Blue J that will allow users to query and receive answers from the latter's research platform for taxes.

  • October 19, 2026

    UK Law Firms See AI Gains But Few Turn Them Into Profit

    Almost two-thirds of the U.K.'s top 100 law firms have implemented artificial intelligence, but fewer than one in 10 report financial benefits, according to a new report from PwC.

  • October 19, 2026

    Katten Seeks Deeper London Bench Without PE Or Merger

    Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP wants a "deeper bench" of corporate lawyers in London as it aims to lift profit per equity partner to $5 million by 2030 without private equity investment or a major merger, the firm's chair has said.

  • October 19, 2026

    Tribunal Judge Sanctioned For Standing In Local Election

    A tribunal judge has been sanctioned after he stood as a candidate in a local election, displaying conduct that the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office has said could have been seen to undermine his impartiality.

  • October 19, 2026

    Burges Salmon To Pilot Training In Energy, Built Environment

    Burges Salmon LLP said Monday that it is piloting training contract for aspiring solicitors that is focused on the energy and built environment sectors as it aims to strengthen its industry expertise and build deeper client relationships.

  • October 16, 2026

    Cooley Reportedly Matches Milbank Pay Scale Starting In '27

    Cooley LLP will reportedly increase U.S. associate base compensation in line with the pay scale set by Milbank LLP in June beginning on Jan. 1.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From CRS' Sarah Wigington

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    Sarah Wigington, head of CRS' U.K. corporate team, discusses the challenges of conducting a joint venture with numerous moving parts that had to land at precisely the same moment, how simplification of corporate reporting and disclosure obligations would help midmarket businesses, and why ESG factors are now a threshold issue.

  • PE's Path In UK Legal Market Offers Playbook For US Firms

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    The U.K. offers 14 years' worth of data on private equity's involvement in the legal market, demonstrating for U.S. firms what worked, what didn’t and why, and illustrating several lessons about operational readiness, cultural fit and timing, says Tom Lenfestey at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Lack Of Associate Pay Progression May Leave Firms Exposed

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    Willkie’s recent salary increases for newly qualified lawyers in London made headline news, but the more important issue is how firms pay midlevel associates, since allowing pay progression to lag materially risks undermining the cohort firms rely on to sustain client relationships and train the next generation, says Adam Stocker at Major Lindsey.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Wedlake Bell's Adam Grant

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    Adam Grant, head of employment at Wedlake Bell, discusses the challenges of persuading a business to offer employees greater support when it makes large-scale redundancies, the need for new guidance on returning data subject access requests to their intended purpose, and how economic uncertainty with less job security may lead to more office presence.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Willkie's Gavin Gordon

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    Willkie's chair of European private equity, Gavin Gordon, discusses the challenges of conducting a merger across differing time zones and in a complex regulatory environment, how clients are frustrated by the growing impact of antitrust filings, and why there is a mismatch on valuation expectation between buyers and sellers.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From CRS' Dewdney Drew

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    Dewdney Drew, head of brand protection at Charles Russell Speechlys, discusses the challenges of working on a firm's rebrand under time pressure, how the process to simplify U.K. design protection is under way, and why lawyers need to harness the power of artificial intelligence.

  • What UK, EU Law Firms Can Do To Rectify Gender Inequality

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    The latest figures show that elite international law firms remain among the weakest performers on gender equality in the legal industry, demonstrating that equity is no longer external to the practice of law, and sits within the core responsibilities of those who steward trust in courts and governments, says Govindi Deerasinghe at Global 50/50.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Jones Day's Vica Irani

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    Vica Irani, co-leader of Jones Day's corporate practice, discusses the challenges of assisting a multinational client with divesting its Russian operations at the onset of the Russia-Ukraine war, why greater harmonization across borders would be beneficial, and the increase in regulatory scrutiny for deals in terms of antitrust and foreign direct investment screening.

  • Why SRA Is Cracking Down On 'No Win, No Fee' Law Firms

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    Harriet Gamper at the Solicitors Regulation Authority discusses the regulator’s recent warning notice concerning "no win, no fee" arrangements in high-volume consumer claims, aimed at offering lawyers clarity in understanding their obligations following findings that many law firms were failing in their duty to protect clients' best interests.

  • Why UK Criminal Court Changes Need To Be Systemic

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    The proposals in the second part of Brian Leveson's long-anticipated independent review of criminal courts, aimed at easing pressure on the criminal justice system and restoring public confidence, are broadly welcomed, but without structural change and sustained funding, they risk becoming little more than temporary fixes, says Vicky Lankester at Brett Wilson.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Stewarts' Aaron Le Marquer

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    Aaron Le Marquer, Stewarts' head of insurance, discusses the challenges of conducting defamation proceedings in Thailand, why the minimal impact of the Insurance Act 2015 is disappointing, and how working in diverse environments provides a more holistic understanding of the way insurance works.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Skadden's Deborah Kirk

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    Deborah Kirk, Skadden's head of intellectual property and technology, discusses the challenges of cross-disciplinary collaboration on a transaction, how the proliferation of artificial intelligence is forcing clients to rethink their IP and data strategies, and why flexibility, curiosity and dynamism are key as a lawyer.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Stewarts' Joseph Lappin

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    Joseph Lappin, head of employment at Stewarts, discusses the challenges of representing barristers with very high IQs, how the employment tribunal system is crying out for proper investment, and the Financial Conduct Authority's inconsistent approach to nonfinancial misconduct.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Jones Day's Anna Cartwright

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    Anna Cartwright, co-head of Jones Day's real estate practice, discusses the challenges of working on a transaction requiring regulatory expertise from multiple regions, why new regulatory complexities in the real assets sector can introduce risks for clients, and how the convergence of real estate and infrastructure is playing out in asset managers' investment decisions.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Kingsley Napley's Corinne Aldridge

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    Corinne Aldridge, head of employment at Kingsley Napley, discusses the challenges of leading a transaction requiring local employment law advice from multiple jurisdictions, how the perception of workplace conduct has changed dramatically in recent years, and why people skills and empathy are key in her field.

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