Traditional legal model shaken by investor interest and IPO ambitions January 26, 2026 External investment is increasing in mid-size legal firms, according to a new report, which revealed that nearly 70 per cent of firms have been approached by private equity investors or PE-backed entities in the last year. New data from MHA, in conjunction with the Law Society, shared with Morning Wire, shows that the majority of [...]
Legal accounts controversy: Who should fund the broken justice system? January 22, 2026 First, the government tried to go after the LLPs, but that failed. Now its eyes are on law firms’ client accounts under the narrative that it will be used to help the crumbling justice system, but lawyers are seeing it as just another tax raid. Law firms earn substantial income from interest on client accounts, [...]
David Lammy’s plan to seize law firm interest sparks outrage January 20, 2026 Secretary of State for Justice David Lammy was accused of a “brazen attempt” to “confiscate law firms’ cash” after the government revealed plans to take the interest law firms earn on money sitting in their client accounts. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Justice opened a consultation on a proposal to introduce an Interest on [...]
Immigration law firm put up for sale on insolvency market amid visa crackdown January 13, 2026 A London law firm specialising in immigration services has been put up for sale on an insolvency marketplace in an early sign the government’s crackdown on visas has sparked a slump in applications. Woolwich-based A Vincent Solicitors, which employs more than two dozen staff and has a second office in Manchester, offered multi-lingual support services [...]
Ropes & Gray offers junior lawyers 20 per cent billable credit for AI effort January 9, 2026 US law firm Ropes & Gray has expanded its programme to give junior lawyers 20 per cent of their billable hours to experiment with generative AI to its European offices, including in the City. The ‘TrAIlblazers’ programme was floated across the firm’s US offices last year, but it is now being implemented in Europe for [...]
London’s legal elites bask in booming pay packets January 8, 2026 While London shivers through a January cold snap, the city’s legal elite are basking in an earnings heatwave as salaries for City lawyers at major law firms have edged up over the last year. Over the 2024/2025 financial year, the average profit per equity partner (PEP) at the big firms, including Linklaters, A&O Shearman, Herbert [...]
Legal firm faces “material uncertainty” after publishing overdue accounts January 7, 2026 After months of delay, the law firm behind the largest action to hit the London High Court published its 2023 financial accounts, which revealed an annual loss of £95m. Pogust Goodhead’s 2023 account, published on Companies House on Monday, four months past the deadline, showed turnover decreased sharply to £3,607,387, down from £53,077,800 in 2022. [...]
US law firms lead London hiring, fuelled by private capital growth January 5, 2026 Legal recruiters for big law firms in the City had a busy 2025 as hiring for the most senior lawyers surged, with the trend expected to continue into the new year. As employment figures rose in the UK to above the 5 per cent mark in 2025, according to figures by legal recruiter Edwards Gibson, [...]
The year in law: Scale, survival, and the surge of the transatlantic titans December 23, 2025 From the birth of new transatlantic titans to a government-led rescue of the litigation funding market, 2025 has seen the City’s legal landscape rewritten by a relentless pursuit of scale and a newfound reliance on the machine. The legal sector started the year with US President Donald Trump attacking the industry, as Trump vs Big [...]
Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader join the transatlantic wave of mergers December 19, 2025 London-based Hogan Lovells has announced its intention to merge with Wall Street’s oldest law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, to create a nearly £2.7bn law firm, as the trend of mega-mergers continues in the market. The firm, which will be known as Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, is subject to customary closing conditions, including a vote by [...]