By Hayden Cooke, Chief of Staff, gunnercooke The Codex Edge Platform Firms Report 2026 confirms a structural shift in the UK legal market. Total headcount across platform firms has crossed 5,000 lawyers for the first time. Platform firms took the top two spots in the UK legal market hiring table for 2025, and four now sit inside […]
As an entrepreneur, you have established a small but promising business founded on a high-quality product, operated from modest premises with the support of a small team, and targeted at a well-defined niche market. Through this venture, you successfully validated the product’s value and observe clear indicators of market potential and scalability. Encouraged by these indicators, you recognise that the business is now poised for accelerated growth. However, […]
gunnercooke’s Crypto team, led by Partner Kathryn Dodds, advised Fabio Mancini and Mike Rudek, the sellers of Vesting Labs, trading as TokenOps, on the acquisition of the business by Zama, a leading open-source cryptography company specialising in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), which enables computations to be performed on encrypted data without requiring decryption. The transaction […]
This article was co-authored by Steve Kavanagh, Head of gunnercooke Sport and former Millwall Chief, and Julian Pike, Reputation Management Partner, who has over 30 years’ experience in advising on reputation management issues in sport, including for clubs, individuals and governing bodies, including on major crises and issues. The Play-Offs have always created huge expectation […]
When people think about inheriting assets in Spain, they usually picture a holiday home on the Costa del Sol or an apartment in the city. But what happens when the only Spanish asset is a bank account? This situation is more common than you might expect, and while it is somewhat simpler than dealing with […]
The recent TCC decision of Mace Construct Ltd v Baltic Investment Holdings Ltd will not exactly make national headlines, but it contains several practical reminders for anyone involved in construction projects and contract drafting. If you do not want to read the entire summary, you can take away this: bespoke wording matters, courts will hold […]
We’re noticing a significant shift in the UK property market and London especially with Asian investors who had traditionally tended to focus on acquiring residential property, often in London, have increasing been turning their attention to commercial real estate. This trend may be driven by a few factors including evolving market dynamics in the post-Brexit and post-pandemic era, attractive yield differentials, and strategic repositioning by investors from […]
A statutory ban on upwards-only rent review clauses in commercial leases is now on the statute book. The provision, contained in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026, will fundamentally reshape the commercial property market. What is changing? For decades, upwards only rent review clauses have […]
The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. Although the ban on upwards-only rent reviews in commercial leases is not yet in force, with implementation expected through regulations likely in 2027, the fact that the legislation has been passed is already influencing behaviour in the commercial letting market. Leases granted […]
gunnercooke has been named a finalist in two categories at this year’s Manchester Legal Awards: Corporate Culture and Wellbeing Champions of the Year and Private Client Team of the Year. Organised by the Manchester Law Society, the awards celebrate legal excellence, talent, and achievement across the North West. The firm has been recognised for its unique model, which empowers partners […]
1. Overview: A New Era for Renting in England The’ Rights Act 2025 represents the most significant legislative shift in the private rented sector (PRS) for a generation. The Act coming into effect on 1st May 2026, aims to strike a new balance between the rights of tenants and the protections for landlords. This legislation […]