Epstein Becker Green and Deloitte Legal’s Alliance for Employment Law and Workforce Management Services was cited in Bloomberg Law Business & Practice, in “N.Y., Others Mull Moves to Allow Companies to Co-Own Law Firms,” by Sam Skolnik. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
New York and Illinois are joining a growing list of states considering legal system rules changes that could give companies more opportunities to compete with law firms.
Connecticut, North Carolina, and Florida are exploring similar moves designed to boost low-income consumer access to legal services. The changes may pave the way for more nonlawyer co-ownership of law firms and open the market to Big Four accounting firms and technology companies.
“Large barriers have been removed for these issues to be normalized,” said Zack DeMeola, director of legal education and the legal profession for the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System. “It’s not as much of an uphill climb as it was once was for other states.” …
Big Four Blues
The moves in New York and Illinois come as Big Four accountancies have been bolstering their legal services arms elsewhere around the globe. At least one, Deloitte, has also launched a partnership with New York-based law firm Epstein Becker Green.
The companies pose a potential threat to law firms not just because accountancies boast annual revenues in the tens of billions of dollars, which dwarf those of the largest U.S. firms, or because they’re tech-forward in ways most law firms aren’t.
“The Big Four possess versatile, adaptive business models that have been very effective,” DeMeola said. “Law firms, not so much.”