March 29, 2006
U.K. Law Firms Prepare For Change
I was paging through LegalIT’s February 2006 supplemental issue on Practice Management yesterday. The U.K. perspective is a fresh view of the law firm as a business. Our neighbors across the pond are preparing for a significant change in their business environment.
U.S. law firms with a global eye are already aware of the U.K. government’s intention to radically reform legal services, including allowing outside investors to buy a share in law firms or even purchase them outright. The consolidation of law firms into banks, accounting firms, and other organizations is soon to follow. The change will rip away the protection of the partnership form of ownership and expose law firms to commercial competition. However, I was struck by a familiar refrain. One article read as follows:
“The findings reflect the reality of highly profitable institutions that have previously lacked an incentive to truly maximize their efficiency. Indeed, in an industry where much work is still billed by the hour, it can be argued that reducing the time taken to complete a given task, accordingly reduces the amount of fees that can be charged”
Like U.S. law firms, those in the U.K. are cash-generating machines with very favorable business attributes for the owners. There is a growing realization, however, that the consumer of legal services is paying for inefficiency. So while the law firm partners are happy with their own financial results, the winds of change are building. In the end, law firms that become the most efficient will win.
If you are interested in tracking events in the U.K. including their efforts and progress toward becoming more efficient check out LegalIT’s web site.
Morepartnerincome.com is sponsored by Juris, Inc. For information about Juris® products and services for increasing law firm performance and partner income, go to www.Juris.com.
Related posts
Filed under Operations by Tom Collins