Reeves' 2025 Budget and its Implications By Esme Glover The eagerly awaited 2025 Budget, delivered by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves this week, has sparked significant discussion about its terms and areas of focus. From raising taxes by £26 billion, to welfare state changes and imposing an allowance cut on the Cash ISA (Individual Savings Account) for those under 65, the budget appears to tackle various areas of people’s lives. Tax has been an area of focus for Reeves as she sta

By Arafath Ahmad, interviewing Thomas Tanner Thomas is a Regulatory Paralegal at Blake Morgan and a future trainee solicitor, who I connected with through the GROW Mentoring program, where he became my mentor at a time when I was still figuring out my path in law. Through his mentoring, he has helped me understand the profession better, given me application advice, and been someone I could always reach out to with questions. In this interview, Thomas talks about his journey i

By Ayesha Malik Development and law were once treated as separate spheres: economists focused on growth while legal reform was seen as something that came later. As development thinking shifted towards a broader understanding of human wellbeing, rights-based approaches gained traction. They reframed development as the expansion of people’s freedoms and capabilities, not just economic output. Within this shift, human rights law moved from the sidelines to the centre of develop

By Zohaa Khalid On the topic of schooling and teaching of crucial information to younger individuals, the Oxford English Dictionary ‘education’ as: “ The process of bringing up a child, with reference to forming character, shaping manners and behaviour, etc; the manner in which a person has been brought up; an instance of this.” In essence, without primary and secondary formal institutions set up for the purpose of educating children, our youth will fail to :  develop critica

By Rabani Malhotra Meta’s recent courtroom victory marks a major landmark in the ongoing struggle between US regulators and Big Tech. Judge James Boasberg ruled in favour of Meta against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which had accused Meta of running a “buy or bury” strategy, essentially accusing them of absorbing emerging rivals before they could become threats. The case in particular was centred on Meta’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.  At the heart of the di

By Hannah LeBor The Paris International Chamber of Commerce, the original agreed seat of arbitration. Last year’s UniCredit v RusChem (2024) was a significant reaffirmation of the attitude taken by English courts towards arbitrations, which arise out of contracts engaging English law. UniCredit v RusChem (2024) follows precedent Enka v Chubb (2020) by confirming that the English courts are willing to enforce English law on an arbitration clause, even if the arbitration seat s

What the Ashurst-Perkins Coie Merger Reveals About Modern M&A By Zuha Malik In today’s market, companies increasingly rely on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) as a form of inorganic growth. Building new capabilities internally is slow and expensive; acquiring them e xternally is often faster and strategically smarter. This logic now applies not only to corporates, but also to law firms, which are acting more like the clients they advise. A clear example is the newly announced

By Sarah Wagner Ten years have passed since 13 November 2015, when coordinated attacks in Paris left 130 dead and hundreds injured. As Europe marks this sombre anniversary, the legal community reflects not only on the tragedy but on the unprecedented judicial response that followed. The so-called “V13” trial, shorthand for Vendredi 13 Novembre, which concluded in 2022, has become a landmark in contemporary criminal justice. More than a procedural exercise, it was a profound e

By Naeun Kim Legal decisions are often imagined as the product of rules, evidence, and rational deliberation. Yet in reality, the courtroom is far from isolated when it comes to the currents of communication that surround it. From news coverage to social media debates, and now increasingly through AI-powered legal platforms, public perception actively shapes how justice is interpreted and applied. For instance, consider AI legal advice services such as Garfield.AI , which pro

By Hannah LeBor How can justice survive in the era of virtual courtrooms? Cancel culture has been around for a while, but since the rise of TikTok it has reached new bounds: influencing court cases. Many worry about the future of law due to the rise of AI, but fewer seem to acknowledge the present threats that digital platforms pose. Cancel culture can be described as the public shaming and mass withdrawal of support for a public figure, potentially ending their career due to

The Creation of an AI Bubble By Esme Glover The term “AI bubble” has become increasingly prominent in financial and business commentary. As artificial intelligence continues to dominate global headlines, concerns are emerging about whether investment in this sector will result in a prosperous future economy. With the world economy becoming increasingly reliant on the success of a relatively small number of AI and technology companies, particularly in Asian and U.S. markets, t

By Alex Feeney In recent months, the European Commission has been drafting plans to bring stock and cryptocurrency exchanges under central supervision, aiming to strengthen the EU’s financial competitiveness amid an expanding US market. The proposal would hand direct oversight to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to address the persistent fragmentation of European markets. However, this drive toward greater centralisation is not without issue. In particular

By Ayesha Malik When families are forced to abandon the only homes they have ever known, they carry little more than what they can hold in their arms and hope in their hearts. They flee the roar of bombs overhead, the relentless encroachment of rising seas, or the quiet, suffocating threat of persecution. Each border is a step into further uncertainty, a fragile promise of safety that is often betrayed. They arrive expecting protection and sanctuary, yet instead encounter end

By Andrea Berkovic Between the 19 th  century and today, the judicial definition and social conception of rape in France have undergone significant transformations. In 1980, Gisèle Halimi, a pioneering feminist lawyer, helped secure the recognition of rape as a crime. Forty-five years later, in 2025, Gisèle Pelicot, a survivor of one of the most shocking cases of sexual violence in French history, became the catalyst for redefining rape around the principle of consent. At the

By Rowan Rutherford Book bans are nothing new. Across the US and UK, attempts to suppress certain texts have spanned centuries. The first recorded American book ban dates back to colonial times, when  New English Canaan  by Thomas Morton was condemned for challenging Puritan orthodoxy and defending indigenous groups. Since then, the act of restricting books has enabled those in power to shape the ruling ideology of their time.   Today, book bans have re-emerged as a striking

A development in US-China relations By Esme Glover The recent summit in South Korea has marked a significant development in the ever-evolving relationship between the United States and China. Most notably, the two leaders reached a one-year trade and tariff agreement, signalling a temporary easing of tensions that had escalated earlier this year. President Xi Jinping emphasised the need for both nations to “take a long-term view…” in shaping their economic and diplomatic

By Zohaa Khalid In light of the current requirements for achieving British settler status as a foreigner in 2025, it is apparent that there are certain biases which provide particular groups with a major advantage compared to other, less privileged individuals. The formal definition of immigration as clarified by the Oxford English Dictionary to be “the action of coming to settle permanently in another country or region; entrance into a country for the purpose of settling the

By Rabani Malhotra You may have heard about Apple’s latest technological advancement. Live Translation for Airpods  does exactly what it appears to do, namely, translates speech in real time as you listen. It’s a sleek, futuristic feature that reflects Apple’s growing investment in artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, however, if you happen to live in the EU, you won’t be getting the feature - at least, not yet.  Apple has blocked the feature for EU users, citing regulator

By Mei Rose On 19 October 2025, thieves disguised as maintenance workers used a truck platform to reach the Galerie d’Apollon at the Louvre, smashed display cases and made off with several pieces from France’s crown jewels. French officials called the loss “inestimable,” even as press estimates put the haul in the tens of millions of euros; the raid has prompted arrests in an urgent national review of museum security. Beyond its immediate ‘thrilling’ nature , however,  the sp

By Stephane Duponcheele Last Thursday, three of Europe’s premier aerospace champions, Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales, announced a preliminary agreement to merge their space divisions. The goal of this ambitious project is the creation of a European satellite champion capable of competing with the likes of SpaceX on the global stage. The planned venture, valued at around €6.5 billion and employing roughly 25,000 people across the continent, aims to consolidate Europe’s satellite