BIRCHROSE
Insights

Ask most law firm finance directors where their biggest pool of untapped cash sits, and they won't point to fee rates or headcount. They'll point to work that has already been done, already been paid for in salaries and overheads, and is still sitting on the books unbilled.

The annual Chambers UK Guide has long served as one of the most authoritative barometers of the legal market. For 2026, its editors made a point of looking beyond the rankings themselves, drawing on direct conversations with leading practitioners to characterise the trends shaping each practice area. Read in that light, the guide is less a league table than a detailed account of where legal expertise and, by extension, legal talent is concentrating, fragmenting and moving on.

Walk into almost any London law firm today and AI is already part of the working day often before there is a policy telling anyone how it should be used. The Law Society now estimates that the majority of firms and solicitors use AI for routine tasks such as drafting documents and analysing case material, with around two-thirds of lawyers reporting they use these tools in their work.

At Birchrose Associates, we spend a lot of time talking to risk and compliance teams - both the firms trying to build them and the candidates trying to move into or up within them. One thing has become impossible to ignore in those conversations: Intapp has gone from being a name a handful of firms mentioned to a near-standard requirement on the job specs we're briefed on.

It’s Pride Month, and many organisations across the UK are reflecting on the importance of inclusion, representation, and diversity in the workplace.

A growing number of qualified lawyers are stepping away from traditional fee-earning to build careers in risk, compliance and conflicts. Here is why – and what it means for the profession.

There's a version of this conversation that goes: that's an American issue, not ours. But the D&I backlash has landed in the UK legal market whether firms want to acknowledge it or not. And the US experience doesn't just tell us what's happening now - it tells us what can happen next.

As regulatory pressure mounts and the cost of getting it wrong has never been higher, a new class of in-house legal expert is moving from back-office function to boardroom essential.