Pulse UK

  • April 22, 2026

    Ashurst Names 18 New Partners With 5 In London

    Ashurst named five new partners in London among a worldwide cohort of 18 promotions on Wednesday, marking a second consecutive year of shrinking partner elevations at the firm as it gears up to merge with U.S. outfit Perkins Coie LLP.

  • April 21, 2026

    SRA Fights Axiom Ince's £65M Fraud Oversight Claim

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority hit back at claims from the now-defunct Axiom Ince that it was negligent in failing to spot the firm's leaders' alleged misappropriation of £65 million ($87.7 million) in client money early on.

  • April 21, 2026

    London Comes Top In HSF Kramer Partner Round

    Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP named 25 new partners across its global network on Tuesday, with more than a quarter being based in the U.K. 

  • April 21, 2026

    Ex-RAF Officer Loses Sex Bias Claim Over Internal Ranking 

    A Royal Air Force officer has lost her sex discrimination case over the military's assessment of her bid for a promotion with a tribunal finding she faced the same grading criteria as her male peers.

  • April 21, 2026

    LexisNexis Announces Alliance With AI Co. Luminance

    LexisNexis Legal & Professional announced on Tuesday a strategic alliance with Luminance Technologies Ltd., a U.K. software company producing artificial intelligence tools for enterprise legal teams working primarily on contracts.

  • April 21, 2026

    Regulator Sees Little Change In SQE Pass Rates As Fees Rise

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority said Tuesday that the number of candidates who passed the qualification exam in 2024‑25 showed little movement, with stronger results in the second part of the test offset by largely flat figures in the first stage.

  • April 21, 2026

    Bar Council Supports AI Declarations For Witness Statements

    The professional body for barristers in England and Wales said Tuesday it supports new rules which would require litigators to declare that they have not used artificial intelligence tools to prepare some witness statements.

  • April 21, 2026

    SRA Finds Suspected Fraud In PM Law's £40M Shortfall

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority said Tuesday that it has uncovered a "sophisticated suspected fraud" at PM Law Ltd. involving £39.5 million ($53 million) in client funds allegedly removed and misused by the firm.

  • April 21, 2026

    ENRC's $290M Claim Defies Decades Of Precedent, SFO Says

    The Serious Fraud Office and Dechert argued at trial on Tuesday that the $290 million claim brought by ENRC over a botched criminal investigation flies in the face of 30 years of legal precedent and simply "doesn't work."

  • April 27, 2026

    The 2026 UK Lawyer Satisfaction Survey: Where Do You Stand?

    How is your work-life balance? Are you content with your compensation and opportunities for advancement at work? Take the 2026 Law360 UK Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey and share your thoughts.

  • April 21, 2026

    Glencore Ruling Broadens Scope For Challenge Over Privilege

    A recent court ruling that expands legal advice privilege to cover some internal corporate communications gives companies greater scope for withholding sensitive material but is likely to prompt challenges over whether those documents meet the test for protection, lawyers say.

  • April 20, 2026

    Spencer West's US, UK Heads On American Expansion

    United Kingdom-based distributed law firm Spencer West announced earlier this spring that it has officially launched a practice based in the United States with nearly 20 partners working in a wide range of major markets including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.

  • April 20, 2026

    SRA Fines 4 Firms Over Anti-Money Laundering Breaches

    The English solicitors watchdog has hit a law firm with an almost £14,000 ($19,000) penalty and fined three others £750 in the latest round of sanctions over anti-money laundering compliance failings.

  • April 20, 2026

    Solicitor Barred After Falsifying Time Sheets 

    An associate who falsified time records and billed clients for work he never completed has been struck off and ordered to pay £10,000 ($13,540), after admitting that he had created misleading billing entries for up to three years. 

  • April 20, 2026

    Firms Still Face Pressure Post-Mazur Amid Regulatory Muddle

    An appeals court eased some pressure on high‑volume litigation firms when it cleared the way for paralegals and legal executives to resume conducting litigation, but firms still face a heavier compliance burden and lingering unease over a period of conflicting regulatory guidance.

  • April 20, 2026

    Taylor Wessing Names 4 New Partners Ahead Of Merger

    Taylor Wessing said this week that it has promoted four lawyers to its partnership across London and Europe, a smaller group than last year as the firm readies for a merger with U.S. firm Winston & Strawn. 

  • April 20, 2026

    ENRC Says SFO Probe Tarnished Rep And Scared Off Lenders

    The prolonged investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into ENRC hammered the company's reputation, scared off lenders and ultimately drove up its borrowing costs, the miner's counsel said at the start of a $290 million trial on Monday.

  • April 17, 2026

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

    The past week in London has seen Aston Martin file an appeal in a row with Chinese carmaker Geely over its winged logo for London black cabs, Ineos sue Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team for a £180 million ($244 million) boat, White & Case face a claim from two energy storage companies, and a golf tour company bring a claim against Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund after the fund invested in its rival.

  • April 17, 2026

    ENRC Seeks $290M As Final SFO Damages Trial Opens

    The 13-year legal battle between the Serious Fraud Office and Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. could be headed for its final chapter on Monday as the mining company demands compensation for a botched criminal investigation.

  • April 17, 2026

    Litigation Funder Fenchurch Legal Enters Administration

    London-based litigation funder Fenchurch Legal has entered administration amid a winding-up petition from an investment manager that previously warred with the company over a multimillion-pound loan.

  • April 17, 2026

    Maastricht University Loses Cryogenic Patent To IP Firm

    European appellate officials have nixed a university's patent for a method of freezing biological samples, ruling that it required "extensive experimentation" for a skilled inventor to carry it out and lacked clarity.

  • April 17, 2026

    The Revolving Door: Cadwalader Exodus To Orrick Hits 42

    Over the past week, the exodus of Cadwalader lawyers to Orrick reached 42, Weil expanded its securities bench with the addition of a funds partner from Kirkland & Ellis, which also lost a tax partner to Vinson & Elkins.

  • April 17, 2026

    Head Of Employment Tribunals Calls For More Video Hearings

    More remote hearings are a "needs must" to cope with a surge in claims from workers and difficulties in recruiting judges to work in London, the president of the Employment Tribunals has said.

  • April 17, 2026

    Voir Dire: Law360 Pulse's Weekly Quiz

    Partnership promotions, BigLaw hires and firm merger votes helped make this another action-packed week for the legal industry. Test your legal news savvy here with Law360 Pulse's weekly quiz.

  • April 17, 2026

    SRA Adds GC In Leadership Expansion Push After Scandals

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority said Friday that it is creating four new senior leadership roles as part of a major effort to rebuild trust after the Axiom Ince and SSB Group scandals.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Bristows' Robert Burrows

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    Robert Burrows, joint head of patent litigation at Bristows, discusses the challenges of remote working when preparing cases, the need for reform in respect of second medical use patents, and whether recent European Union court decisions could mark the beginning of a shift in European litigation practice.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights: Farrer & Co.'s Kathleen Heycock

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    Kathleen Heycock, leader of the employment practice at Farrer & Co., discusses why challenging cases foster a sense of achievement, how an increase in workplace investigations has affected her practice, and the importance of emotional intelligence when working on both positive and negative employment matters.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Morgan Lewis' Timothy Corbett

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    Timothy Corbett, leader of Morgan Lewis' London corporate and business transactions practice, discusses the challenges of divesting a company of its Russia operations under wartime conditions, the need to align regional regulatory approaches to artificial intelligence across global businesses, and why junior lawyers should develop an area of special interest.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Covington's Gregor Frizzell

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    Gregor Frizzell, head of the EMEA corporate group and vice chair of the global corporate practice at Covington, discusses the creative challenges of merger and acquisition document provisions, how modernizing the archaic stamp duty regime would be welcomed by tax lawyers, and the guidance offered by a recent case on the interpretation of material adverse clauses.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Farrer & Co.'s Simon Ward

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    Simon Ward, leader of the private capital practice at Farrer & Co., discusses the challenges of coordinating an acquisition with lawyers from other practice areas, why finding ways to connect education institutions to regulators and decision-makers would be a positive shift, and why young lawyers should get involved in the business world early on.

  • Russia Sanctions Spotlight: Divergent Approaches Emerge

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    With indications of greater divergence and uncertainty in Russia sanctions policy between the U.K., European Union and U.S., there are four general principles and a range of compliance steps that businesses should bear in mind when assessing the impact of a potentially shifting landscape, says Alexandra Melia at Steptoe.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Morgan Lewis' Nick Bolter

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    Nick Bolter, leader of the London intellectual property practice at Morgan Lewis, discusses the challenges of acting in disputes where the other party is a lay person representing themselves, the need to refocus trademark law on consumer protection, and why IP is a challenging area of law.

  • FCA Update Eases Private Stock Market Disclosure Rules

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    The Financial Conduct Authority’s recently updated proposals for the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System would result in less onerous disclosure obligations for businesses, reflecting ongoing efforts to balance an attractive trading venue for private companies while maintaining sufficient investor protections, say lawyers at Debevoise.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Mayer Brown's James West

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    James West, co-leader of Mayer Brown's private equity practice, discusses the challenges of conducting complex deals at pace, the benefits of maintaining a relatively light regulatory framework in the private equity arena, and why the current economic climate has led to a need for the industry to be more flexible in its approach to dealmaking.

  • Practice Leader Insights From Norton Rose's Paul Griffin

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    Paul Griffin, head of employment and labor for Europe, Middle East and Asia at Norton Rose, discusses the challenge of litigating a whistleblowing case with a CEO remaining in post, why the qualifying period for claiming unfair dismissal should be reviewed, and the importance of retaining one's authenticity as a lawyer.

  • What Rise Of AI Means For Future Of Junior Lawyer Careers

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    While artificial intelligence is reshaping law firms’ approach to core tasks, it is unlikely to eliminate the need for human oversight, and if junior lawyers can embrace new technologies with integrity, they can focus on more meaningful work and add greater value to their teams, says Valeriya Zinchenko at Teacher Stern.

  • Practice Leader Insights From HFW's Michelle Chance

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    Michelle Chance, head of HFW's London employment practice, discusses the challenges of defending a high-profile race discrimination class action in the civil courts, the need for male employees to take shared parental leave, and the significance of the new employer duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees.

  • 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.

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