Canadian Lawyer InHouse

7 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE MARCH 2018 A roundup of legal department news and trends Big four accounting firms well positioned to move in on big law B ig law firms continue to prosper, but as clients push for convergence, will the big four accounting firms be the ones corporations look to in the future to satisfy all of their needs? According to research from ALM Intel - ligence presented in January at LegalWeek in New York, as Deloitte, PWC, KPMG and EY expand their legal offerings, they pose the biggest threat to the future success of law firms and alternative service providers. "The big four are aiming to completely re-think the way professional services are delivered by combining their consulting, their accounting and legal services into a single multidisciplinary offering — they're re-thinking the way professional services are bought, sold and delivered," said Nicho - las Bruch, analyst with ALM Intelligence. "They clearly feel they are expanding into the legal industry with the wind at their back and to some degree I understand why they feel that way. The legal arms of the big four are significantly larger than most people appreciate." On average, Bruch said the big four ac - counting firms have about 2,000 lawyers in their legal divisions; they are also more global and have extremely strong relation- ships with the C-suite. "They have strong brands and deep pock- ets — their ambitions in the legal industry are fairly clear at this point — they plan to target services adjacent to their traditional services, accounting and consulting, and ex - pand into a range of managed services that will bring them into direct confrontation with traditional ASPs and to some degree legal tech," he said. Last October in Toronto, Deloitte Conduit Law LLP ended its 18-month relationship when founder Peter Carayiannis announced Conduit Law's "renewed independence." A few weeks later, PWC in the U.K. an - nounced it was launching "Flexible Legal Resources" to provide corporations with lawyers when needed, taking the form of services offered by ASPs such as Axiom. But law firms are fighting back against the pressure from the big four and the growth of interest in ASPs. Despite all the talk of the death of the law firm hourly rate, the ALM Intelligence report shows hourly rates currently account for about 70 per cent of total spend and rates are continuing to go up every year. "Revenue per lawyer, profit per lawyer and profit per equity lawyer are all up over the last five years and all of these figures are at or near all-time highs — even after adjusting for inflation," said Bruch. "There is no secret to how law firms are doing this — they are cutting costs, outsourc - Having found the defendant on Instagram, Vasdani brought a motion in court asking if she could serve the defendant through In- stagram and LinkedIn. The court granted service effective five days after Vasdani sent the necessary documents to the defendant through Instagram and LinkedIn, as well as through mail to her last known address. Vasdani served the defendant in a private message on Instagram. The lawyer says the order is the latest example of how the use of technology is creeping into the legal profession, which has been criticized for being largely resistant to change. Ontario Attorney General Yasir Naqvi has committed to digitiz - ing and modernizing the courts. The Ministry of the Attorney General recently made it possible to file civil claims online — a change Vasdani says would have been incon- ceivable to many lawyers a year ago. "If we are able to shift the way that we use and apply the law and legal tools so that they are more consistent with the individuals we are seeking to hold legally accountable, we will be met with efficacy, client satisfaction and the prestige the profession since its inception has and deserves to continue to hold," she says. — Alex Robinson IH CFOs are saying they are growing weary of adding head count, salaries are rising internally and all of this raises questions around whether the in-sourcing trend can be continued, and if the low-hanging fruit for in-sourcing has already been plucked. NICHOLAS BRUCH, ALM Intelligence

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