Still blas about the Big Five’s move into the law biz? Consider this: Andersen Legal, the global law network of accounting giant Arthur Andersen, reported last month that its revenue for the fiscal year ending August 31, 1999, shot up to $482 million, 30 percent more than the previous year. That’s more than double the growth of the average Am Law 100 firm in 1998. “It is amazing,” says Alberto Terol, Andersen Legal’s Madrid-based managing partner. “We are getting involved in a significant number of deals . . . that three or four years ago were unimaginable.”
Chalk it up to the market’s resounding endorsement of multidisciplinary practices, or MDPs, says Terol. Clients are “demanding global service from global providers,” which, he asserts, Andersen’s 2,734 lawyers in 35 countries provide. Just as important, he adds, the firm has been recruiting high caliber lawyers with big books of business. That has helped Andersen win lucrative assignments, Terol says, in cross-border mergers and for financial services and telecommunications clients.
