Bigger. Better. Both?
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1 May, 2013
Succession: Trade sales – gain, pain, both?
Warren Riddell. Accounting. Consulting engineering. Engineering. Law. Management consulting. Mergers & Acquisitions. Other professional services. Strategy
Succession for many firms is a trade sale, usually because owners have not transitioned ownership to the next generation of leaders and key managers in their firm. Sadly many owners are disappointed in what they are offered for their life’s work. Why is this and what can be done about it?
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30 April, 2013
Succession: mergers are minefields
Warren Riddell. Accounting. Beaton Benchmarks. Consulting engineering. Engineering. Law. Management consulting. Mergers & Acquisitions. Other professional services. Strategy
Professional service firms often become ‘succession stuck’. They do too little, too late for an orderly internal transition of ownership. As a result they either reach for a trade sale or seek a merger. Mergers can work well when managed well. Or mergers can destroy shareholder value.
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18 April, 2013
Adam Smith Esq on BigLaw’s Charmed Circle
Guests. Law. Strategy
The existence of a highly select Charmed Circle, White Shoe, or other complimentary moniker denoting New York-based firms at the very top of the food chain, is unquestioned. The questions of interest are whether membership in that super-select group is changing, and how their global strategy compares with that of their Magic Circle counterparts. The evolving Circle… As static as [...]
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12 April, 2013
Charmed Circle and the luxury goods market
Guests. Law. Strategy
In responding to Eric Chin’s analysis of the Charmed Circle law firms let me start by considering a retail analogy. What’s happened in the luxury goods market… Luxury stores and brands such as Tiffany and Hermes are subject to economic ups and downs but I have seen no evidence of fundamental changes in the buying behaviour of [...]
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9 April, 2013
The Charmed Circle of BigLaw firms in the USA
Eric Chin. Law. Mergers & Acquisitions. Strategy
We reviewed London’s Magic Circle of BigLaw firms in a post last month; this month we take a close look at the Charmed Circle law firms in the USA. Members of both circles are elite, some would say stratospheric, law firms. It has been nearly a decade since The Economist examined the different strategies adopted [...]
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6 April, 2013
Can law firms adopt disruptive innovation?
Dr George Beaton. Law. Strategy
“Here’s the thing: disruptive innovation is not coming to the law. At least, not quickly.” wrote Sam Glover last week. Whereas in June last year I wrote “In light of the grim Innovator’s Dilemma picture summarised here, can law firms hope to succeed?” Both of us are analysts of the question: Can law firms adopt [...]
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13 March, 2013
K&L Who? M&A and brand permission in globalising law firms
Warren Riddell. Law. Mergers & Acquisitions. Strategy
Is the cobbler’s son the worst shod boy at school? Are we the heroes of our own stories? Do we forget local at the expense of global? Do big firms get M&A right?
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8 March, 2013
Beaton450 says hello, goodbye and congratulations for 2012
Eric Chin. Accounting. Consulting engineering. Law. Management consulting. Mergers & Acquisitions. Other professional services. Strategy
The second instalment of Beaton Capital’s league table of the world’s largest 450 professional services firms is made up of 41 accounting & advisory firms, 165 consulting engineering firms, 208 law firms and 37 management consulting firms. The 2012 Beaton450 firms generated US$521 billion through 4 million professional staff operating from nearly 44,000 offices. The [...]
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7 March, 2013
The privileges of Magic Circle membership
Eric Chin. Law. Strategy
“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” Winston Churchill The legal reporters who invented the term ‘Magic Circle’ have received no recompense for the enormous economic benefits these two words bestow on its five members. Descriptors like the ‘Big Four’ in accountancy, ‘MBB’ in strategy consulting, ‘German luxury cars’ in automotive [...]
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6 March, 2013
Why fear and fire don’t help in the PSF pricing war
Dr George Beaton. Accounting. Beaton Benchmarks. Consulting engineering. Law. Management consulting. Other professional services. Strategy
This post is a really helpful insight into why law firms and their corporate clients often appear to be chasms apart on fees. And it’s not just law firms that are under fire. To varying degrees accountancy, consulting engineering, management consultants, patent attorneys and all other business-related professions seem under attack. What’s changed? And what’s [...]
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