‘Into the lion's den': Mark Carney's high-stakes meeting with Donald Trump
Mark Carney has had a short honeymoon since his victory in Canada's election.A little over a week after spearheading his Liberal party's
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Entrepreneur
an hour ago
- Entrepreneur
How London Built the World's Best Legal AI Ecosystem
Self-flagellation feels part of the British psyche these days. It has become fashionable to beat down on the UK, be that tech bros calling the country a 'museum' bereft of growth and innovation, Brits en masse recently voting against the status quo, or pro-Europe Londoners watching this all play out while mouthing 'I told you so'. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur United Kingdom, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. Business optimism is also plummeting. When the Financial Times reported that Shein had plans to ditch London for its IPO, they wrote that the real surprise was "that Shein had even entertained London in the first place." To compound matters, British fintech - the jewel in London's crown - was dealt a huge blow this month when UK payments darling Wise also chose to avoid listing on London's beleaguered stock market. Amidst this malaise, though, there remains one stalwart of the British economy: legal services. And not only is London's legal sector flourishing, it's leading the way in legaltech and AI. It's no secret that AI is uprooting every industry, and professional services sit squarely in its non-sentient crosshairs. Within white collar jobs, lawyers - with their repeated document creation and need for reviewing extensive reams of information - are likely to see some of the most radical change. This isn't just about efficiencies, this is a near-trillion-dollar industry in which AI could generate $100,000 in additional billable time annually per lawyer (Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals Report, 2024). So what put London in the driving seat here? Why do law firms in NYC and even investors in the Bay Area concede that London is still streaks ahead in this vertical? The answer reveals the blueprint for winning any AI transformation race. The starting point is fierce competition. In the early years of the 2010s software explosion, law firms in the City of London were large but rarely bloated. With so many great competing practices all within a mile of each other, competition was relentless. Senior Partners were already used to having to prioritise efficiency, productivity and flexibility over headcount. Then, when more serious technology solutions came onto the scene around the early 2010s (think document creation software and legal workflow tools), these same law firms were nimble enough to capitalise. Dedicated legal innovation departments were set up to try to work out how SaaS and Cloud technologies could be woven into legal work. London-headquartered, international law firm, Addleshaw Goddard, as just one example, quickly built a team of 40 legal engineers and operations staff to keep the firm cutting edge. And all this was happening while US counterparts continued with their paper and office stamps. This might seem surprising, given America's reputation as innovator-in-chief. Why did Britain get the jump here ahead of its Transatlantic cousins, who were 'moving fast and breaking things'? Crucially, the institutional players and incumbents were keen to come along for the ride. Allen & Overy (now A&O Shearman) and Mishcon de Reya, two of Britain's most established firms, both built incubator programs for startups. I vividly remember entrepreneurs from places like Singapore and Latin America moving to London to be part of FUSE, Allen & Overy's program. The Law Society of England and Wales created events and roundtables on legaltech and even partnered with startups looking to disrupt the industry. Not only did this start fostering entrepreneurial and digital talent in the London legal sector, but it also signalled to the rest of the industry that innovation was the direction of travel, whether people liked it or not. It's also worth mentioning that the regulators helped too. The UK's laws on alternative legal services providers (ALSPs) allowed for firms to be owned by non-lawyers, a practice banned in most jurisdictions, such as the US and Germany. By allowing firms to list publicly or be bought by private equity, more business minds were brought into UK law firms. This, in turn, drove innovation acceptance. The final factor for London leading the legaltech race is the company you can keep in this brilliant city. When we at BRYTER were deciding on our first international market to expand to, our core axiom was that we needed to follow our customers. London, with its parade of skyscrapers packed with lawyers, was the obvious choice. But importantly, and unlike in other European professional services hubs, we knew that just down the road in Mayfair was Europe's most mature venture capital ecosystem. London was already home to brilliant British-born funds like Balderton and Atomico, but also flourishing outposts from the American behemoths like Accel and Index Ventures, who had noticed that European startups were attractive (and cheaper) to invest in. This meshing of established law firms and venture capital led to a legal tech boom and significant exits such as HighQ (acquired by Thomson Reuters), Tessian (Proofpoint), Della (WoltersKluwer), Onfido (Entrust) and more. And, each of these liquidity moments forged a next generation of entrepreneurs and angel investors within the London ecosystem. This confluence of factors and attitudes is what London's legaltech dominance is built on. The combination of deep specialist knowledge going back centuries, open-minded institutional players, and the mixing of lawyers and VCs has set the city up to lead our industry for decades. But there's also a cautionary tale baked into this story. A warning for all the tech bros out there who see the AI-ification of professional services as the next gold rush. London's legaltech flourished because tools were built hand-in-glove with the traditional legal industry. It was always the law first, and then workflows, software and automation. For those of us looking to design the next era of the legal industry, we need to be spending as much time in the pubs of Lincoln's Inn as the boardrooms of Silicon Valley.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Carney says Canada will meet 2% NATO spending target by March
Saying that the era of the United States' dominance on the world stage is over, Prime Minister Mark Carney committed his government on Monday to meeting the NATO benchmark target of two per cent of the country's gross domestic product by the end of the current fiscal year in March. The prime minister outlined his vision of Canada moving more closely toward European allies in a speech in Toronto. "We stood shoulder to shoulder with the Americans throughout the Cold War and in the decades that followed, as the United States played a dominant role on the world stage. Today, that dominance is a thing of the past," Carney told an audience of foreign policy thinkers, national security officials and defence industry business leaders on Monday morning. Carney said the world is at a turning point — a hinge moment — and that it's time for Canada to chart its own path."The United States is beginning to monetize its hegemony: charging for access to its markets and reducing its relative contributions to our collective security," Carney said. "In parallel, the world's trade routes, allegiances, energy systems and even intelligence itself are being rewired. Rising great powers are now in strategic competition with America. A new imperialism threatens. Middle powers compete for interests and attention, knowing that if they are not at the table, they will be on the menu." Carney reiterated pledges made during the election campaign to rearm the Canadian military with new submarines, armoured vehicles, drones and other technology. He provided no additional specifics during the speech. Much of the new $9.3 billion in defence spending is foundational, allowing the military to increase recruitment, give current soldiers a pay raise and set the stage for major equipment purchases — as well as an expansion of the Canadian defence industry. WATCH | Carney's full speech: There was speculation that the Liberal government would fold the Canadian Coast Guard entirely into the Department of National Defence — something other countries do. The coast guard is currently a special operating agency under the Fisheries Department with an annual budget of $2.5 billion. At a technical briefing for the media, senior defence officials said the coast guard would remain where it was and there would be no need to arm the civilian agency. However, senior federal officials insisted a more fundamental reorganization of the service would take place. One of the biggest questions on the minds of the opposition parties, whom Carney called to support the plan, was how the dramatic increase would impact the federal budget. Carney said the government would not raise taxes, but acknowledged some cuts would be made elsewhere within the federal more fundamental, defence expert Dave Perry said, is that the Defence Department has had trouble in the past being able to spend additional money. "I think the Government of Canada now has to actually try to come to grips with whether or not it can actually move this money that the prime minister talked about this morning," said Perry, president of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, who's spent more than decade tracking defence spending. "If bureaucracy proceeds like normal, the way it has been over the past decade and a bit, this money is unlikely to be spent. We're going to have to actually see concrete change across the Canadian government." Federal ministers have been quietly signalling the pathway to a two per cent commitment for the last couple of weeks. The former head of NATO, George Robertson, speaking on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live on June 1, said Industry Minister Mélanie Joly had assured him that Canada would reach the alliance goal, which was first agreed upon in 2014, by the end of the year. Last week, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Defence Minister David McGuinty signalled Carney would address Canada's defence spending targets before the upcoming leaders' summit in The the two per cent NATO target would require an investment of between $18 billion and $20 billion. In his speech, Carney said Canada will sign on to NATO's defence industrial pledge. Last year, NATO said it wanted its members to develop national plans to bolster the capacity of their individual defence industry sectors, a concept Canada has struggled with — or avoided outright — for decades. "Our goal is tangible commitments from our allies to provide NATO with the necessary resolve to deter aggression and protect against all adversaries in all domains," Carney said. "Our goal is to protect Canadians, not to satisfy NATO accountants." Canada under former prime minister Justin Trudeau faced regular criticism from allies for not meeting NATO's current target of two per cent of GDP. The dispute became public at last year's leaders' summit in Washington when members of the U.S. Congress from both sides of the aisle called out Canada for not having a plan to meet the goal, unlike all other allies.
Business Insider
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- Business Insider
LMT, NOC, RTX: Canada to Boost Defense Spending by $30 Billion
Canada's federal government in Ottawa says it will boost its defense spending by $30 billion to meet its obligations under the NATO military alliance. Confident Investing Starts Here: As a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Canada is required to spend 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. But until now, Canada has never met that target, spending only 1.45% of its GDP on defense in 2024. However, Canada's newly installed Prime Minister Mark Carney is looking to close the gap, pledging to lift the country's defense spending to 2% of GDP in the current Fiscal year that runs until March 31, 2026. The defense spending increase could be a boon to leading defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin (LMT), Northrop Grumman (NOC), and RTX Corp. (RTX). Closing the Gap According to government projections, Canada is projected to spend $52.3 billion on defense in the current 2025-26 Fiscal year. Canada's parliamentary budget office has estimated that the federal government would need to spend $81.9 billion to hit NATO's 2% GDP target, an increase of $29.6 billion from current levels. Canada has long been one of the biggest laggards among NATO members when it comes to meeting its defense spending targets, a fact that has drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump. Currently, 22 of 32 member countries meet or exceed NATO's 2% defense spending target. Canada is expected to spend the additional defense money on new submarines, military aircraft, and artillery. Part of the new spending will also include Canada's participation in the $234 billion 'ReArm Europe' initiative, and to expand and bolster the Canadian Coast Guard. Is LMT Stock a Buy? The stock of Lockheed Martin has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 15 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on seven Buy and eight Hold recommendations assigned in the last three months. The average LMT price target of $521.07 implies 8.37% upside from current levels.
