Page 14 - 1 Disruption and Opportunties - Law and Accounting rd
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Professional Services Disruption
8. Biglaw can hire at the same levels or higher as the Big Four. This is reflected by the starting income of
new attorneys in major markets.47
In the longer term, there is a Big
Four threat to Biglaw at the
marketing, administrative, and
operations levels concerning
branding, social media, and
operation efficiencies.
Size
Size can be measured by the
number of lawyers, gross revenue,
profit margin and number of offices.
The largest firm’s market share is
essentially fixed at less than 0.5
percent of the global market.48
Doubling in size will not significantly
affect that percentage. As each
grows, the competition will increase and additional costs will be incurred. This is illustrated on the
concentration chart as the largest firms
remaining at the lowest level.
The number of offices and the profit per
lawyer are related. However, because the
highlight firms are vereins in which each
member is financially independent, it is not
possible to do a comparison. The firms in
the largest jurisdictions are likely to have
the similar profit per lawyer as the non-
vereins.
This would be similar to the Big Four legal
where each firm is independent so profits
will vary depending on the country.
Brand
The Big Four are already consolidated organizations at the top of their market development. The largest law
firms cannot achieve this without substantial consolidation of their markets. Is a 20,000-person firm possible?
Yes, a verein could grow to this size, but even then, it would be smaller than the largest legal networks.49
47id
48 List of largest law firms by revenue, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_law_firms_by_revenue
49 Steven Martin, 3 Charts Which Illustrate the Future of the Legal Industry, FRESH MINDS (April 13, 2017), http://www.freshminds.net/2017/04/3-
charts-illustrate-future-legal-industry/.
11
8. Biglaw can hire at the same levels or higher as the Big Four. This is reflected by the starting income of
new attorneys in major markets.47
In the longer term, there is a Big
Four threat to Biglaw at the
marketing, administrative, and
operations levels concerning
branding, social media, and
operation efficiencies.
Size
Size can be measured by the
number of lawyers, gross revenue,
profit margin and number of offices.
The largest firm’s market share is
essentially fixed at less than 0.5
percent of the global market.48
Doubling in size will not significantly
affect that percentage. As each
grows, the competition will increase and additional costs will be incurred. This is illustrated on the
concentration chart as the largest firms
remaining at the lowest level.
The number of offices and the profit per
lawyer are related. However, because the
highlight firms are vereins in which each
member is financially independent, it is not
possible to do a comparison. The firms in
the largest jurisdictions are likely to have
the similar profit per lawyer as the non-
vereins.
This would be similar to the Big Four legal
where each firm is independent so profits
will vary depending on the country.
Brand
The Big Four are already consolidated organizations at the top of their market development. The largest law
firms cannot achieve this without substantial consolidation of their markets. Is a 20,000-person firm possible?
Yes, a verein could grow to this size, but even then, it would be smaller than the largest legal networks.49
47id
48 List of largest law firms by revenue, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_law_firms_by_revenue
49 Steven Martin, 3 Charts Which Illustrate the Future of the Legal Industry, FRESH MINDS (April 13, 2017), http://www.freshminds.net/2017/04/3-
charts-illustrate-future-legal-industry/.
11
