Mergers and Acquisitions Succession

As the legal sector continues to  anticipate a flurry of alliances, Peter Noyes examines the proposition that the strategy of mergers can profit from the lessons of hindsight.

Many firms were financially stronger in 2021 than they were going into lockdown in March 2020. Turnover was down but so were costs and coupled with furloughing and funding meant that firms had cash in the bank. However, we cannot ignore the challenges facing the profession and the pandemic has speeded up the eventuality of consolidation.

We will see the biggest changes to the legal profession over the coming few years than we have seen for the past 300 years. We now only have 15% of the profession operating via the traditional partnership model that is no longer fit for purpose.