It is a fact that much consolidation has taken place in the legal marketplace over the past 20 years. Twenty years ago, it was common for small, strong niche firms to thrive alongside some of their larger counterparts. It was not considered strange for strong partners such as Julian Holy, Keir McGuinness or Stephen Finch to leave well-established firms and set up on their own. These new firms could realistically compete with – and indeed sometimes out-perform – their larger rivals.
Nowadays, it is the larger firms that hold the advantage. From the outset, the better-qualified graduates tend to be attracted to the larger firms where there is the perception that they will receive a better and more well-rounded training. The quality assistant solicitors and partners that wish to find new homes also tend to gravitate towards the larger firms. Allied with this concentration of quality fee earner resource, the larger firms can also offer their clients much more by way of legal specialisms, owing to their greater size.
