Shoosmiths has authored the UK chapters of Legal 500’s AI and TMT Country Comparative Guides 2026, reflecting its work across AI, technology, telecommunications, cybersecurity and emerging technologies’. The guides provide a pragmatic overview of the law and practice of technology law across a variety of jurisdictions.
Published: 17 August 2026
Joe Stephenson, Partner, and Stefanie Hughes, Professional Support Lawyer, contributed to the Artificial Intelligence and Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) guides, providing insight into the legal and regulatory developments shaping the UK technology landscape.
Artificial Intelligence Guide
The Artificial Intelligence Country Comparative Guide 2026 explores the UK's evolving approach to AI regulation, governance and adoption. The chapter themes cover:
- the UK's AI strategy and implementation of the AI Opportunities Action Plan
- transparency, explainability and disclosure obligations when deploying AI systems
- human oversight and automated decision-making
- liability for AI-related harm, including contractual liability, negligence and product liability considerations
- intellectual property issues relating to AI-generated works and AI training data
- workplace considerations, including algorithmic bias, employee monitoring and governance
- privacy and data protection challenges associated with AI systems, including transparency, data minimisation, DPIAs and training datasets
- the legal and regulatory implications of data scraping from both privacy and intellectual property perspectives
Read the AI Comparative Guide here: Legal 500: Artificial Intelligence Comparative Guide
Technology, Media & Telecommunications Guide
The Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) Country Comparative Guide 2026 provides an overview of the legal and regulatory framework governing the UK technology sector. Topics covered include:
- protection and ownership of software and technology-related intellectual property rights
- legal and commercial considerations in software licensing, SaaS and cloud services arrangements
- regulatory requirements affecting technology providers and regulated businesses, including operational resilience and outsourcing considerations
- telecommunications regulation and cybersecurity obligations impacting UK networks and service providers
- the UK's evolving data protection and cyber resilience landscape
- artificial intelligence governance and the UK's principles-based regulatory approach
- emerging regulation affecting blockchain and crypto assets, online platforms, search engines and social media services
- new developments in areas such as spatial computing, quantum technologies and digital infrastructure
Read the TMT Comparative Guide here: Legal 500: TMT Comparative Guide
Continuing to shape the conversation
The guides reflect the firm’s commitment to providing practical, forward-looking legal insight to help clients address what matters now and prepare for what matters next across an increasingly complex technology, legal and regulatory environment.
Special thanks to Sarah Reynolds, Alex Kirkhope, Alice Wallbank, Claire Kershaw, Jo Tunnicliff and Nicky Jenkins for their contributions to the AI guide, and to Christian Cockcroft, Andrew Whalley, Nicky Jenkins, Liam Phillips, Matthew MacLachlan, Jo Tunnicliff, Felicity Forward, Sarah Reynolds, Manoj Peiris and Jon Smart for their input into the TMT guide.