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April 22, 2008

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Consolidation Trends of Legal Services

Consolidation is driven by the desire of some corporate customers, who require a host of legal services, to have one firm handling all of their needs, a "one-stop-shop".

Firms typically add specialist lawyers and practice groups to do this. However, they can achieve this more rapidly and on a grander scale by merging with other firms.

Non-global players traditionally share an international mandate with a local player, or refer the client to a firm which they recommended. An example of this is the Slaughter and May (UK) / Cravath (US) "best friends" relationship.

One of the hottest current debates regards whether firms will consolidate globally to offer cross-border one-stop-shopping or whether firms will be chosen on their ability to provide the best service in a particular jurisdiction similar to a specialist boutique.