Founded in 2021 by Katherine Kimel, the firm has grown from a single practitioner into a team of lawyers and legal professionals who work only in this corner of the law.

That narrowness is deliberate. Estate disputes sit at the intersection of family history, money and grief, and Katherine Kimel built the firm on the view that clients going through this are better served by lawyers who do this work daily rather than occasionally. Kimel Law Group takes on will challenges, disputes between executors and beneficiaries, applications to remove estate trustees, passing of accounts disagreements, and questions of testamentary capacity and undue influence. It also acts in guardianship and capacity proceedings, an area closely tied to estate work but often overlooked by generalist firms.

Since opening its doors, the firm has represented clients throughout Ontario, not just in Toronto, reflecting how often estate disputes cross regional lines within families. Katherine Kimel remains its Founder and Principal Lawyer, and under her direction the firm has built a reputation among referral sources for being responsive and direct with clients at a time when many are dealing with a difficult, and often the first, experience of litigation in their lives.

Kimel Law Group’s growth has tracked a broader pattern in Ontario, where estate litigation has become a steadier feature of the legal system as families deal with more complex assets and blended relationships. Rather than diversifying into adjacent areas such as estate planning or general litigation, the firm has kept its focus narrow. It positions this discipline, not breadth, as the reason clients come to it for contested and high-conflict matters.

Below, Katherine Kimel discusses how the firm started, how its practice has developed, and what she has learned about running a focused litigation practice in Ontario.

Interview with Katherine Kimel, Founder and Principal Lawyer of Kimel Law Group

Let’s start at the beginning. Why did you decide to build a firm around estate litigation specifically, rather than a broader litigation practice?

Estate disputes have their own rhythm. The legal issues can be technical, but the underlying situation is almost always personal: siblings who disagree about a parent’s wishes, an executor who isn’t communicating, a family member who suspects undue influence. I wanted a firm built around understanding both parts of that, the law and the human dynamic, rather than treating estate matters as one file type among many.

What did the first year or two of running the firm actually look like?

It meant being very deliberate about what we took on. We turned away work that wasn’t estates-related, even when it would have been easier to say yes. That discipline is part of why the firm has been able to grow the way it has. Clients came to us because they’d heard we only did this kind of work, and that made the early referrals feel earned rather than accidental.

How has the firm changed since 2021?

We’ve gone from a single lawyer to a team, which changes how you think about the work. I’m no longer the only person a client speaks with, so we’ve had to be careful about how we train people and how we communicate as a group. What hasn’t changed is the standard we hold ourselves to on responsiveness. Clients in estate disputes are often anxious, and slow answers make that worse.

What kinds of matters take up most of your time now?

A good deal of our work involves disputes over how an estate is being administered, disagreements between an executor and beneficiaries, or questions about whether an estate trustee should be removed. We also do a fair amount of capacity and guardianship work, which overlaps with estates more than people expect. Someone’s capacity to manage their own affairs often becomes an issue right alongside questions about their estate plan.

Is there a part of this work you find particularly demanding?

Managing expectations around timeline. Litigation in Ontario doesn’t move quickly, and estate disputes are no exception. Clients are often dealing with a loss and want resolution, but the court process has its own pace. Part of our job is being honest about that from the outset rather than letting someone assume it will move faster than it will.

How do you think about measuring whether the firm is doing its job well?

Results in litigation are never fully within your control, so I look at whether we gave sound advice, communicated clearly, and pushed the matter toward the best realistic outcome available. That’s a different standard than simply counting wins, but it’s the one that holds up over time.

Where do you see the firm’s practice heading?

We expect estate litigation in Ontario to keep growing in volume as families deal with more complicated assets and living arrangements. We’re not looking to expand into other practice areas. We’d rather keep building depth in the work we already do, which is estate disputes, administration, and capacity matters, and keep that as the entire focus of the firm.

The Cardiff headquartered business said it will reduce headcount by around 5%

Wales’ only FTSE 100 business Admiral has confirmed plans to cut around 500 roles from its UK insurance business. The Cardiff headquartered group has begun a 45-day collective consultation period with impacted staff.

The restructuring, which will reduce headcount at its UK insurance business by 5%, forms part of £100m in cost-savings announced when it published its financial results for 2025 back in March.

Admiral said it was too early to say whether the reduction in staff could be achieved voluntarily or whether there could be compulsory redundancies.

It said it will be offering enhanced redundancy packages to impacted staff and a series of other support measures, including up to £10,000 for those deciding to start their own businesses alongside mentoring support,

While its UK insurance business, whose major insurance line is vehicle related, but also includes other lines such as travel and pet, is trading strongly, it said the move was designed to reduce complexities across the business.

It stressed that while it uses AI, its adoption was not the reason for what is the insurer’s largest ever redundancy round. It added that the transformation programme is “designed to create a simpler, faster and more effective business that is easier for customers to deal with and better prepared for the future.”

Its UK business has a workforce of nearly 10,000, of which 6,700 are based in Cardiff and just under 2,000 at its Swansea office. It also has a presence in Peterborough following its acquisition of insurer More Than.

Chief executive of Admiral UK Insurance, Alistair Hargreaves, said: “We are making changes to Admiral’s UK Insurance business to ensure we have the right structure, skills and ways of working to meet evolving customer needs. These changes are aimed at making us faster and more efficient so we can continue to deliver great customer outcomes.

“Unfortunately, these proposed changes could result in a number of role reductions if implemented. We recognise this will be a difficult time for affected colleagues and our immediate priority is to support those impacted colleagues, including exploring redeployment opportunities wherever possible. Alongside enhanced redundancy terms, we are also making a significant investment in meaningful support to help colleagues consider future options.”

Other support measures that will be offered to staff will include up to £5,000 for professional qualifications, accredited training and further education.

It said that staff undertaking approved retraining can apply to work part-time for up to 12 months while gaining new qualifications or developing skills for a new profession.

It is also working with specialist outplacement partner LHH to provide career coaching, job search support, CV and interview preparation, networking guidance and career transition expertise.

For its 2025 financial year, revealed in March, Admiral reported a 16% surge in pre-tax profit to £957.9m. Group turnover came in at £5.9bn, down 1% on 2024.

On the back of the results some 13,000 staff – it also has businesses in France, Italy and Spain, received £1,800 in free shares.

McDonald’s on Wednesday announced new financial targets for higher operating margins, a training program to improve food quality and plans to support franchisees financially as they invest in their restaurants.

It unveiled those efforts to improve its business ahead of an investor presentation that will kick off from the fast-food giant’s Chicago headquarters at 9:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

In June, the company unveiled its newest growth strategy, McDonald’s > NEXT. The pillars of the plan include a new restaurant design, better-tasting food and drinks, consumer-led innovation, and improved hospitality from employees. But until Wednesday, executives had offered few details about how they would implement the plan and how it may affect its financial results over the coming years.

The shifts come as McDonald’s U.S. business tries to rebound from sluggish sales and as consumers hit by years of elevated inflation visit restaurants less often.

A key part of the strategy is restaurant remodels, which McDonald’s mandates roughly every decade for franchisees. But the chain will also unveil what it calls Restaurant > NEXT, which includes improvements to equipment, technology and operations. It also will feature “ArchIQ,” an artificial intelligence-powered operating system for restaurants.

All of those upgrades will require steep investment from franchisees. But McDonald’s is also planning to provide financial support, through rent relief and actual capital. Through 2036, McDonald’s plans to spend as much as $8.5 billion to accelerate franchisees’ investment in the restaurant improvement plan.

About $5 billion of that support will happen through 2030. McDonald’s is projecting about $1.5 billion to $2 billion in capital spending from 2027 through 2030 to accelerate NEXT, in addition to about $3 billion every year on typical capital expenditures. (In 2025, McDonald’s reported $3.4 billion in capital expenditures.)

Franchisees may protest the franchisor’s expectations for their own investment in the restaurants, on top of standard cosmetic remodels. Beef and labor costs are already weighing on their profits.

But executives think that the upgrades will pay off for their locations. McDonald’s projects that efficiency improvements will result in an increase of roughly $100,000 in annual cash flow for the average U.S. restaurant, and the initiative will take about four years to return franchisees’ investment.

While McDonald’s plans to spend more to fuel restaurant improvements, the company said it aims to cut costs elsewhere, although it did not offer specifics. By 2030, McDonald’s is targeting an operating margin in the low-to-mid 50% range. In 2025, the company reported operating margins of 46.1%, according to company filings.

Some of that margin expansion will come from its general and administrative spending. By 2030, McDonald’s is projecting that about 1.9% of its systemwide sales will go toward G&A. For comparison, the company is currently forecasting that 2.2% of its systemwide sales will be spent on G&A in 2026.

McDonald’s also has an eye on growing its sales globally. Some of that will come from new locations. Next year, the company expects restaurant openings will make up about 2.5% of its systemwide sales growth.

The company’s accelerated expansion will slow in the following years. By 2030, McDonald’s anticipates new restaurants will account for only about 2% of growth to systemwide sales.

In recent years, the burger chain has leaned into menu items other than its core beef offerings to drive sales, namely chicken and beverages. By 2030, McDonald’s wants to grow its global market share in those two categories by about 1.5 percentage points each.

Still, McDonald’s isn’t abandoning burgers. The company wants to hold onto its leadership in beef, too.

To do so, it plans on implementing “Make It Golden,” a multiyear employee training program to ensure consistency, improved quality and better customer service. The program will begin rolling out on Oct. 5, the 124th birthday of Ray Kroc, who turned the burger restaurant into a global giant.

The rupee fell 0.1% to 95.74 per dollar from a close of 95.59 in the previous session.

Asian currencies fell 0.1% to 0.3% as investors watched oil prices and Fed rate expectations. The dollar index has risen more than 1% since the Fed raised rates last week as bets on further tightening grew. Interest rate futures markets have baked in about 75 basis points worth of hikes over the next 12 months.

“The US Federal Reserve has started hiking, and markets are pricing in more hikes. If the RBI does not respond, India’s monetary policy misalignment with tightening global financial conditions would widen,” analysts at ANZ said in a note.

“With rate differentials already compressed, that would leave the INR more exposed to any global risk-off episode.”

Live Events

On Wednesday, dollar sales by state-run banks — most likely on behalf of the Reserve Bank of India — helped limit the currency’s losses, traders said. The central bank also likely conducted dollar-rupee sell/buy swaps to drain excess cash in the banking system.
The swaps were concentrated in the January 2027 maturity while a portion was for October 2027 maturity as well, a trader at a Mumbai-based bank said.

Oil prices, meanwhile, held below $100 per barrel, kept in check by improving Gulf crude supplies and growing hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Virtus Investment Partners provides investment management products and services to individuals and institutions. We operate a multi-manager asset management business, comprising a number of individual affiliated managers, each with a distinct investment style, autonomous investment process and individual brand. We clearly understand the responsibility we have to our clients and we are committed to their success as investors.
For important disclaimers, go to https://www.virtus.com/social-media-guidelines. Note: This account is not managed or monitored by Virtus, and any messages sent via Seeking Alpha will not receive a response. For inquiries or communication, please use the firm’s official channels.

MINNEAPOLIS — General Mills is expanding its Old El Paso portfolio with new soups and the debut of broth varieties.

The gluten-free broth is available in a 32-oz format, with birria style beef and chicken tinga style varieties.

“There’s nothing better than a warm, flavorful meal as we head into fall, and we’re seeing consumers look for more ways to bring the Tex-Mex flavors they love to meals beyond taco night,” said Ben Bienert, business unit director for Old El Paso at General Mills. “That inspired us to think about how Old El Paso could show up in even more cooking occasions. Our new versatile broths make it easy to bring bold Tex-Mex flavor to busy weeknight dinners, a lunch staple or as the starting point for something completely new.”

The canned soups include chipotle steak burrito style and cheesy beef taco style soup varieties.

The portfolio expansions are available in retailers nationwide. 

The deal for the Gosforth company aims to support its growth and help develop its technology

Newcastle-based carbon reporting and reduction specialist SmartCarbon has been acquired by private equity firm TVI Group in a deal that aims to support the company’s growth.

The Gosforth firm, which was founded in 2016, has grown from a specialist carbon reporting platform working with several businesses in the North East into a national organisation serving both public and private sector organisations. Clients include such as Greggs, Durham University, Thirteen Group and UCL Hospitals London.

As well as helping organisations to measure and reduce carbon emissions, it has a partnership with Northumbria University to deliver carbon footprint training and other course for organisations working towards long-term carbon reduction.

The new investment from Berkshire-based TVI Group will support the development of SmartCarbon’s carbon calculator and reporting platform, integrating automation and AI capabilities that area designed to reduce the administrative burden associated with carbon accounting.

SmartCarbon managing director Lee Jackson, said: “We’re delighted by the TVI acquisition as this brings not only great experience in technological innovation but also a shared commitment to Smart Carbon’s longstanding values and purpose of driving progress in driving carbon reduction in business. Through this new investment, SmartCarbon will be able to execute plans for the development of our carbon accounting platform, enhance our customer experience and, fundamentally, make it easier for businesses to build emissions reporting and carbon reduction planning into their operations.

“Crucially, SmartCarbon will continue to deliver a combination of technology and environmental expertise. Our highly qualified consultancy team remains committed to providing the practical and insightful support that our clients have relied on over the years.”

The company’s founder and principal consultant, Anna-Lisa Mills, will remain with the business within its consultancy team. She said: “When SmartCarbon was founded, the ambition was to give organisations the tools and the knowledge needed to take genuine action on carbon emissions. I’m incredibly proud of how far the business has come since 2016 and I’m excited to remain part of SmartCarbon’s journey as we build on those foundations as a TVI Group business.”

The deal sees Ian Whittaker join SmartCarbon as chairman. He has more than 20 years of sales, marketing and general management experience in the UK and Europe with IT company Hewlett Packard and, as a CEO and board member of a start-up software technology business that listed on the London Stock Exchange and was subsequently sold in 2024.

He said: “I am excited and delighted to join the SmartCarbon team and look forward to building and growing further the fantastic business the team have established.”

Tom Zaunmayr speaks to Justin Fris about how WA’s small business sector is navigating a series of challenges. 

Plus: City council sacks CEO Michelle Reynolds; ACCC blocks IAG-RAC deal, again; $130m Scarborough project approved.