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Briefing Notes
Disputes
Court of Appeal reverses Mazur ruling, confirming supervised non-solicitors can conduct litigation work and resolving a year of uncertainty for alternative legal service providers
Mazur reversed: paralegals can conduct supervised litigation — the ALSP market's legal foundation just got Court of Appeal endorsement.
Banking & Finance
London-based 17Capital closes $7.5 billion NAV lending fund — the largest of its kind ever raised — as PE liquidity pressures drive structural demand for net-asset-value financing
NAV lending triples in four years because PE exit markets are frozen — liquidity demand is structural, not cyclical.
Regulation
CMA opens formal investigation into Microsoft's software business as UK cloud market probe widens beyond AWS and Google
The CMA's Microsoft probe turns cloud lock-in from a commercial complaint into a formal competition law obligation with remedy risk.
M&A
Blackstone and Tinicum consortium secures Takeover Panel deadline extension on approach for UK-listed engineering group Senior PLC
UK public M&A timetables create hard legal deadlines — extensions require Panel consent and reset the clock for all parties.
International
Slaughter and May tops European and UK M&A advisory league tables for Q1 2026 as Sullivan & Cromwell leads globally, per LSEG rankings
League table dominance is a lagging indicator of deal flow — Slaughter's European lead reflects structural client loyalty, not just one quarter's volume.
AI & Law
Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel deploys agentic AI for precedent-based agreement drafting and multi-document review, signalling a shift from AI search tools to AI workflow agents in legal practice
Agentic AI that drafts from your own precedents isn't a search tool — it's a junior lawyer that never sleeps and never bills.
Capital Markets
Universal Music Group launches €500 million share buyback programme on Euronext Amsterdam, executing across four European trading venues
Counter-cyclical buybacks at €500m signal management conviction — MAR safe harbour compliance is the legal backbone of every programme.
Energy & Tech
UK launches RFAS Aviation verification scheme for sustainable aviation fuel claims as SAF Mandate compliance and greenwashing risk sharpen regulatory scrutiny
RFAS Aviation turns SAF sustainability claims from marketing assertions into verifiable legal obligations with enforcement teeth.