U.S. law-firm mergers to the end of the third quarter of 2018 reached levels unseen in the first three quarters of any year for more than a decade, according to an article published last week at law.com. The number of mergers recorded by Fairfax Associates between January 1 and the end of September of
U.S. Law Firms Mark Best First-Half Revenue Growth in Ten Years
Citi Private Bank reports in The American Lawyer that the first half of 2018 was better financially, in particular for small- and large-sized law firms, than was the first half of 2017. In fact, overall revenue growth across the industry in the U.S. contributed to the strongest first half since 2007.
Citi Private Bank’s Law
EY, Proving Itself to Be a Leading Disruptor of Legal Services, Acquires and Expands Riverview Law Globally
Following the acquisition of Riverview Law by EY, a new entity named EY Riverview will expand the accountancy firm’s legal-services reach into the global marketplace. Riverview Law’s growth could lead to an increase in staff from its current 120 to as many as 3,000, to be located at offices around the world.
In case you
U.S. Law Invaded by Big Four
I believe that the greatest threat to the legal profession is the incursion by the Big Four accounting firms. The writing is indelibly on the wall. And yet most American law firms are complacent. They believe that U.S. regulations make them untouchable.Not so fast.
Study Correlates Fixed Fees with an Entrepreneurial Approach to Practice
A 2016 study by LexisNexis, reviewed by Neil Rose in an article in the UK online publication Legal Futures, found that small firms (fewer than 20 fee-earners) that offered fixed-fee billing to clients were frequently ones that could be described as “entrepreneurial” for other reasons. In contrast to firms of comparable size they were,
PwC’s U.S.-based Law Firm to Advise on International Matters
Accounting Today reports that accounting giant PwC is about to open a law firm in the U.S. The article, compiled from various sources by Daniel Hood, points out that this constitutes a significant new development in what many see as an increasing encroachment by accounting firms into the legal services marketplace.
The firm, to be
Microsoft’s Lawyers Told to Swap Billable Hours for Alternative Fee Strategies
According to an article on Quartz
, Microsoft will require all of the law firms with which it works to move to a retainer or other billing approach for most legal matters, rather than billing by the hour, within two years.
As the article points out, the billable hour may be traditional and standard procedure
Linklaters to Measure Teams Rather than Individuals: Exciting Model for Our Time
In a post at Legal Business, Matthew Field reports that Linklaters is about to “phase out individual partner metrics and annual assessments to focus on broader measures of team and firm performance.” The new performance-assessment strategy will focus on such areas as “client winning, business development, training and innovation,” Field says.
Based in London,
New Software Interprets Commercial Loan Agreements in Seconds
Bloomberg Markets reports that new software from JPMorgan Chase & Company has reduced the amount of time that lawyers and loan officers need to invest in interpreting loan contracts from tens of thousands of hours to mere seconds.
Bloomberg writer Hugh Son points out that the COIN (COntract INtelligence) initiative is just one of many
BTI Survey Shows Dramatic Growth for AFAs
A survey conducted by BTI Consulting Group in mid-2015 shows that alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) are experiencing a massive growth in popularity, particularly among larger clients.