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Recent Editions
Risk Channel
North America
A California federal judge has approved more than $22.6m in legal fees from a $68m Google privacy settlement while rejecting unusually high hourly billing rates. U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman reduced Scott + Scott managing partner David Scott's proposed $3,000 hourly rate to $1,600, describing the original figure as "patently unreasonable". The court nevertheless approved lawyers receiving 33% of the settlement, recognising their successful resolution of allegations that Google's voice assistant improperly recorded private conversations and supported targeted advertising. Google denied wrongdoing. The ruling comes amid increasing legal fees, with major U.S. law firms raising hourly rates by an average of 7% in 2025 and some leading partners charging up to $4,000.
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Risk Channel
UK/Europe
Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC have secured £1.5bn in UK public sector contracts during 2026, exceeding the £1bn awarded throughout 2025 and marking their second-highest annual total since 2012. According to Tussell, Deloitte leads with £650m across 108 contracts, followed by KPMG with £413m, EY with £261m and PwC with £212m. Major agreements include up to £456m for civil service training and substantial contracts covering energy efficiency, defence and advisory services. The figures represent potential contract values rather than actual expenditure and include local authorities and other public bodies. The awards come despite Labour's commitment to halve consultancy spending. A parliamentary committee has criticised inadequate government oversight of consultancy expenditure, while ministers maintain that central government spending has fallen by over £600m in 2024-25. A government spokeswoman argued that comparing wider public sector contracts with central government targets was "misleading". Further savings exceeding £700m annually are targeted by 2028-29.
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