Pulse UK

  • June 09, 2026

    MPs Want Appeals Route For Judge-Only Complex Cases

    Defendants charged with economic crimes who are facing trial by a sole judge should be allowed to appeal for their case to be heard by a jury, British lawmakers said Wednesday in a pushback against the government's landmark criminal justice reforms.

  • June 09, 2026

    ICC Prosecutor Suspended Amid Misconduct Allegations

    The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court has been suspended from duty with immediate effect amid reports of alleged sexual misconduct involving a female staffer.

  • June 09, 2026

    Patent AI Co. DeepIP Acquires Munich-Based PatentMaker

    DeepIP, a patent drafting tool that uses generative artificial intelligence, announced Tuesday that it would acquire the company PatentMaker, effectively expanding its reach across Germany and Europe.

  • June 09, 2026

    Ex-Law Firm Owner Rebuked Over Lapsed Insurance

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rebuked the former owner of a London conveyancing firm for poor bookkeeping and continuing to handle client matters months after the firm's professional indemnity insurance expired.

  • June 09, 2026

    Burford Sees Growing Market For Stakes In Elite Firms

    Burford Capital plans to step up minority equity investments in elite law firms in the U.K. and U.S. that already use its litigation finance, as investor appetite for law firm equity increases, the firm's new London-based chief operating officer told Law360.

  • June 09, 2026

    Duely Raises €1.1M To Bolster AI-Powered M&A Service

    Belgian legal technology startup Duely has raised €1.1 million ($1.3 million) to enhance its artificial intelligence-based platform, which it has built to streamline legal work associated with mergers and acquisitions.

  • June 09, 2026

    Uber Demands Funder's Docs From Mishcon In £340M Claim

    Uber urged a London court Tuesday to order Mishcon de Reya to surrender communications with a former litigation funder, arguing that the documents are not privileged and could prove claims worth £340 million ($455 million) have been brought out of time.

  • June 08, 2026

    MoJ Eyes AI Court Assistant To Tackle Crown Court Backlog

    The Ministry of Justice revealed Tuesday that it will develop artificial intelligence legal assistants for Crown Courts to support routine casework, legal research and case analysis, as part of efforts to reduce the growing backlog of criminal trials.

  • June 08, 2026

    Solicitor Can't Sue SRA, Journalist For Discrimination

    A tribunal has thrown out a Black solicitor's discrimination claims against the Solicitors Regulation Authority and a legal journalist, ruling that the lawyer's claims have no chance of succeeding.

  • June 08, 2026

    Irwin Mitchell Weighs PE Funding To Buy Out Ex-Partners

    Irwin Mitchell said Monday it hasn't decided to accept outside investment amid reports that it is looking at external funding to buy back shares held by former partners who own more than half of the business.

  • June 08, 2026

    LSB Joins AI Sandbox To Push Safe Legal Tech

    The Legal Services Board said Monday that it has joined a government-backed initiative aimed at promoting the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence across the U.K. economy as it looks to support innovation in legal services while safeguarding consumers' interests.

  • June 08, 2026

    Lawyers Doubt SRA Plans To Stop Scandals With New Data

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority's proposed overhaul of its client-money rules has won support for restoring annual accountants' reports, but experts say the reforms also raise broader questions about the regulator's ability to act on the data it collects.

  • June 08, 2026

    Clifford Chance Appoints 7 Local Partners Across Globe

    Clifford Chance LLP said Monday that it has promoted seven lawyers across the firm to the role of local partner, a position that sits outside the global partnership.

  • June 05, 2026

    4 Questions For Leah's Vice President Of Legal R&D

    Leah legal research chief Jeremy Coleman talks to Law360 about how his time at Norton Rose Fulbright prepared him for a role at a legal tech company, common misconceptions lawyers have about legal technology and what is holding back AI adoption within law firms.

  • June 05, 2026

    LSB Taps Ex-Ministry Of Justice Official For Strategy Role

    The Legal Services Board has appointed a former Ministry of Justice official to help influence its future direction as it grapples with rapid change in the legal sector.

  • June 05, 2026

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

    The past week in London has seen the U.K.'s oldest Indian restaurant launch an appeal against King Charles III's property company in an effort to stop its eviction, trustees of a bankrupt former EY tax partner file a claim against his wife, and 37 leading insurers bring a lawsuit against agrichemical company Syngenta over an insurance dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • June 05, 2026

    Ex-Law Firm Chair's Insurers Deny Payout Covers £1.1M Debt

    Two insurers have said that the former executive chair of the failed Metamorph Group of law firms remains liable under two guarantees tied to professional indemnity insurance policies, even though he authorized the release of about £880,000 ($1.2 million).

  • June 05, 2026

    The Revolving Door: Mishcon, Signature Make Big Hires

    Over the past week, Mishcon de Reya strengthened its innovation department with a seasoned tech duo, Gowling hired a fraud partner from Signature Litigation, and a former investigations head at Brown Rudnick took the leap to Morgan Lewis.

  • June 05, 2026

    Quinn Emmanuel Hikes NQ Pay In London To £189K

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has raised salaries for the most junior associates in its London office to £189,000 ($255,000), the highest confirmed figure in the English capital, having already boosted compensation for its U.S.-based lawyers.

  • June 04, 2026

    Duxton Hill Grows London Presence With Essex Court Lawyer

    Duxton Hill Chambers, a set of independent practitioners based in Singapore, said it has added to its growing roster of London lawyers with a King's Counsel previously at Essex Court Chambers who brings broad experience in international disputes.

  • June 04, 2026

    DWF UK Chief Steps Down In Leadership Reshuffle

    DWF LLP said Thursday that Hilary Ross has retired from her position as managing partner for the U.K. and Ireland, with the firm yet to name a successor.

  • June 04, 2026

    MoFo Hires Its 1st Chief People Officer, From Mayer Brown

    Morrison Foerster LLP has become the latest of several firms to add a chief people officer to its C-suite, announcing Tuesday that it has hired a longtime executive from Mayer Brown LLP.

  • June 04, 2026

    Mishcon To Roll Out Bonus Tied To Hours, AI

    Mishcon de Reya LLP is adopting a new bonus program for lawyers who exceed their billable hours targets as it looks to maintain a competitive edge in attracting and retaining talented employees.

  • June 04, 2026

    DWF Paralegal Rebuked Over Unapproved Witness Signature

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority said in a decision published Thursday that it had rebuked a senior paralegal at DWF because he attached a witness' signature to a version of a statement that they had not approved or signed.

  • June 04, 2026

    High Court Judge Says AI Could Be Used In Simple Cases

    High Court Judge Joanna Smith has said that artificial intelligence could be used to decide straight-forward cases such as traffic or parking disputes, telling a London conference that there was "definitely scope" for using AI in decision-making. 

Expert Analysis

  • Internal Investigation Strategy After Glencore Privilege Ruling

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    The recent High Court ruling in Aabar Holdings v. Glencore PLC confirms that legal privilege can extend to intraclient communications, materially improving the position of companies that design investigations carefully, define legal channels properly and maintain discipline in their internal communications, says Nicolas Groffman at Harligan.

  • Series

    Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

  • Series

    Practice Leader Insights From Macfarlanes' Andrew Barton

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    Andrew Barton, head of the insurance team at Macfarlanes, discusses the challenges of conducting a transaction under Indian foreign direct investment rules, why the Draft Insurable Interest Bill should be followed through, and how the defined benefit pensions risk transfer space has become the fastest growing insurance market in the world.

  • 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.

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