In a sector as conservative as the commercial legal market, it takes a lot to get people excited. Despite this, the exponential growth of the big five accountancy firms’ legal arms in the late 1990s caused more than a few ripples of panic. In France especially, the accountancy-tied firms were starting to dwarf their stand-alone competitors and looked set to represent something of a challenge to the Paris market.
“When the accountancy-tied firms decided to go into the legal market five to eight years ago, they were a threat,” confirms Jean-Luc Michaud, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Paris managing partner. “Many firms were quite concerned with the huge investments they were making – especially considering the fact that they were paying their lawyers a lot more [than the independent firms].”
