Mergers & Acquisitions
Overview
If you are one of the small, medium or large private practices
that make up the regional legal services market and you are looking
to sell, acquire or merge with another law firm then talk to us. We
act in confidentiality for buyers and sellers in the North West,
Yorkshire and Midlands regions.
Development of the Service
The development of our mergers and acquisitions service was in
most part led by client demand, the same decision makers who were
trusting us with their recruitment matters were asking us
about M & A opportunities within our extensive client base. We
have tens of thousands of contacts within England and Wales
based legal fims, it seemed a natural progression to be able
to ask the question on our clients' behalf. We have settled on
a service that is aimed at sole proprietors and partnerships
who are looking to buy, sell or merge their firms in whole or part.
It is a simple, competitively priced introductory service that can
be extended to include team moves and sale/purchase of
WIP.
A Perfect Storm
A number of factors exist or are coming in to play that
have the potential to create a "Perfect Storm" in the regional
legal services market. Issues like insurance, panel purges,
tighter financing criteria, increased regulation, the
economy, the ongoing property slump and ABS
legislation are creating a Darwinian business
scenario where any chink in the armour could be exposed and prove
to be fatal.
A bit doomsday we appreciate but more of a "wake up and
smell the coffee" shout than predicting the end of the world as we
know it. There are plenty of horror stories to back it up
though, the 1st quarter 2011 increase in practice
abandonment being cited as further evidence
that business is getting tougher.
A Business Case for a Sale, Purchase or
Merger
In order to prosper and not just survive law firms are
going to have to get business wise. It is tough for everyone at the
moment but it makes sense to get on the front foot when
reacting to changing market conditions and turn it to
your advantage. There are plenty of law firms making
profit, not through good fortune but good business
sense and there could be a number of reasons why an exit,
purchase or merger could be the sensible option for
you.
So if you are looking at maximising a return in a
sale, interested in buying into a well located firm that would
benefit from some modernisation or maybe driven towards a
consolidation of costs and pooling of expertise then please
contact us with your business
case.
Please contact Kathryn
Riley, Managing Director of Douglas Scott Legal
Recruitment in the the first instance on 07894
612 442.