Page 15 - Lawyers and Accountants - The Future of the Professions
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Lawyers and Accountants 2019 -
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 similar
profit per lawyer as the non-vereins.
This would be comparable to the Big Four
legal where each firm is independent so
profits per partner 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/.
12
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 similar
profit per lawyer as the non-vereins.
This would be comparable to the Big Four
legal where each firm is independent so
profits per partner 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/.
12
