Some things receive more attention than they probably should. The Kardashians’ latest antics, Elon Musk’s Twitter feed, and whether the thing making us uncomfortable this summer is the heat or the humidity—they are topics we return to again and again, at times out of habit more than anything else. Now, we can add another overly popular subject to the list: the Big Four’s encroachment onto the territory of global law firms.
This narrative is far less salacious than others I’ve grouped it with, and yet, it has proven irresistible to commentators. Something about the idea of accountants pushing lawyers aside, apparently, absorbs our imagination. Every bit of business news that is even tangentially related to the subject sparks a new round of discussion about the threat that the Big Four pose to Big Law. A recent squirt of lighter fluid on the coals occurred in June, when Deloitte acquired the international offices of the immigration law firm Berry Appleman & Leiden. (Deloitte also formed a business partnership with it in the United States).
