Can The Accounting Firms Unseat Biglaw?
This post has been viewed 5,694 times.
A hot conversation started around the legal industry — an industry where the bar for the term “hot” is apparently pretty low — is if and when the Big 4 accounting firms will force their way into the American legal market. They have some built-in advantages, especially when it comes to pre-existing relationships they can leverage into legal business. They’ve made strides in Asia and have started — haltingly — to make forays into the American market.
Of course, the accounting firms are prevented by existing ethical provisions from practicing law in U.S. jurisdictions. But how long will those rules hold up when the Big 4 decide to start throwing their weight around? Today, the behemoth entities set up “strategic partnerships” with existing law firms, agreeing to send their stockpiles of business to a partner firm. All the happy talk about “synergy” rests atop the idea of a proof of concept test run right under our noses.
Read original articleTags:
