As this article in the American Lawyer points out. The big four have been back in the legal game for a while now and some of the larger firms are getting increasingly nervous.
Here’s the introduction to the Am Lawyer piece.
There is increasing evidence that law firms are finally waking up to this reality. Two recent reports by ALM Intelligence show that law firm leaders see the Big Four as a significant threat to their firms’ revenue streams and market positions.
They also report that the Big Four appear well-placed to expand into a wider range of services, including those higher up the value chain.
A Global Footprint
To see the threat posed by the Big Four, one need only look at the number of countries where these newly re-energized players are currently offering a wide range of legal services.
As documented in a recent article by Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession (CLP) and an accompanying academic article in the Law & Social Inquiry journal of the American Bar Foundation, during the last decade the Big Four have been quietly expanding their legal arms. By May 2016, PricewaterhouseCoopers had established legal practices in 85 countries worldwide, KPMG in 53 countries, and Deloitte and EY in 73 countries.
Taken together a total of 106 countries are currently hosting at least one of the Big Four’s legal practices, giving them a significant presence in every important legal market in the world with the notable exception of the United States.
Full article at http://www.americanlawyer.com/id=1202798449576/Taking-on-the-World-The-Big-Four-in-the-Global-Legal-Market
