The evolution of legal firms in London.

by Hudson Mckenzie Lawyers and Solicitors who understand you

Among various key areas in any country’s progress, law holds an important positon and paves the way for sustainable growth altogether. However, over the years, the domain has witnessed monumental changes in the way legal firms in London work and serves their clients.

For example, the times when a firm’s name alone could invite new clients are long passed and the importance has moved to the expertise of the people employed to deliver the legal services.

According to a latest study which classifies a ‘new breed’ of lawyers who are ‘networked, innovative, often niche specialists who’ve set up their business to compete directly with major industry players’. ‘The specialist practitioner’, however, is not a new concept. More than 28% of legal practices are managed by sole practitioners or sole directors – majority of whom provide a place legal service.

Therefore what options are ready to you if you are a legal expert? Some of you will progress to partnership at your legal firms in London but others, like others, will set up their own firms in their respective domain of specialism.

As legal firms in London choose to merge or close, the strains for niche legal practices will rise to occupy the ‘advice deserts’ that have started to appear. The black hole that will be left by cuts to legal aid will also need to be filled by those who can provide a legal service on a cost-effective basis.

Niche firms have lesser overheads and can give a local and national service as they craft on their specialism, not their locality. This not only fills the gaps that are being left by the collapse of firms in big cities such as Birmingham and Manchester, but also addresses the unmet need that has been present outside London for a number of years.

Niche firms are set to work on a national level at lower cost, weakening the prices of national firms and still be able to survive and flourish. It is no longer ‘the bigger you are, the better you are’. It is more like ‘the bigger you are, the harder you fall’. The legal market is looking out for new entrants to fill the void and the Solicitors Regulation Authority is supportive of expert practitioners setting up their own firms. There seems to be a movement by the regulator to promote entrepreneurial lawyers to take the plunge and be the future leaders of the legal profession.

It is feasible for specialized legal firms in London to manage risk to clients, the law firm and the legal profession if the firm is run by specialist experts. This could be because, with a risk-based phenomenon, it is less risky to deliver legal services through conventional law firm structures than business models that rely on private equity funding or branding of a large corporation.

The long-term sustainability of the legal profession will be down to the entrepreneurial lawyers who have studied law, worked in law and are able to manage the law. They will be the ‘stars of the legal services revolution’ and their credentials outstrip those entrants who buy into law to build a profit.