Editorial: New Routes to Strategic Growth
When a firm has good and valid reasons to grow, or at least to extend its reach, the question changes from whether to grow to how to grow. The favoured traditional route — indeed, the only route for most firms — was a merger, a complicated and challenging move that could deliver major benefits but […]
Alternative Growth Structures
We are in a period of genuinely unprecedented change in the legal market. Deep-seated structural changes have been ignited by a combination of economic downturn and deregulation, creating a constellation of different structures and models for providing legal services where once stood the near-universal model of a partnership of professionals.
International Alliances
Sheltering under the global umbrella of a leading network or alliance has long been a favoured option for independent law firms. It gives them the best of all worlds by maintaining their own autonomies, their own brands and their distinctive identities at the same time as appearing to be part of something a lot bigger.
Innovative Associations
India’s prominence on the global stage continues to grow. Its economy is ranked third in the world on the basis of purchasing power parity and is growing at the fourth-fastest rate, while eight Indian companies occupy slots on the Fortune 500 list and most Fortune 500 companies have a presence here.
Enter The Swiss Verein
After years of anticipation, true global consolidation on a significant scale is finally occurring in the legal industry. The driving influence appears to be the availability of a structural vehicle that helps firms deal with the legal and functional hurdles of international mergers. That vehicle is the Swiss Verein.
Harvesting the Diamonds
If you’ve read the previous article by Nick and Ed, then you already know that “verein” is the German word for “association.” That relatively casual and distant word reflects the fact that such firms typically involve separate profit centers, a financial state of affairs that does not always encourage cross-selling to the same degree that […]
Come Together
Thirty years ago, who would have thought that the market for legal services could support a 3,000- lawyer law firm while witnessing the evaporation of a 1,000-lawyer law firm virtually overnight?
Do You Want Swiss With That?
The unabated growth, diversification, consolidation and geographical sprawl of law firms has reached the point where they might better be called “legal service delivery engines” — huge machines designed to capitalize on economies of scale, global footprints, cross-border referrals, myriad offices and specialized practice groups and client service teams.
Why Are You Growing?
Mergers are tactics that should support a law firm’s strategy. But some firms fall into the trap of using mergers as a substitute for strategy. Before you grow your firm, make sure you know what you hope to achieve.
Fall 2012 – Edge International Review
The Fall 2012 issue of the Edge International Review provides legal leaders with insights on alternative growth strategies in the legal industry, covering topics like Swiss Vereins, global alliances, and non-merger affiliations. It discusses non-traditional expansion methods that law firms can use to enhance their market presence and competitiveness, while also examining case studies, best […]