70 LEXPERT MAGAZINE
|
APRIL 2016
A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, I was introduced to a law student
who was visiting Canada from France. In the course of our conver-
sation, I was encouraged to ask her to name the largest law firm in
her country. Her reply: "Ernst & Young."
e legal profession in Canada continues to pose the wrong ques-
tions to the wrong people. We keep asking ourselves, "Who should
be allowed to practise law?" We should instead look at the world
around us and ask, "Who is actually delivering legal services?" In
a growing number of jurisdictions, the answer is accounting firms.
ree of the Big Four accounting firms (PwC, KPMG and EY)
have already obtained ABS licences in Eng-
land & Wales. PwC Legal alone generated
revenue of £41 million in 2015 from a world-
wide headcount of 2,400 lawyers in 83 coun-
tries. And it's not just the accounting giants,
either. By last summer, 113 ABS licences had
been issued to accounting firms in Britain.
Accounting firms are active in other jurisdic-
tions as well. e Big Four in the Asia-Pacific region now have twice
the firm partnership presence of their Big Law counterparts. In India,
meanwhile, the professions are competing hard for talent and engage-
ments in M&A, competition law, tax law and forensics work.
Here in Canada, accounting firms have been delivering legal
services in tax for ages, and regulators have shown little interest in
cracking down. Deloitte purchased Toronto legal document review
company ATD Legal early in 2014, while PwC acquired immigra-
tion law firm Bomza Law Group two months later and converted it
to PwC Immigration Law LLP. e accoun-
tants aren't "coming," as many headlines sug-
gest; they're already here.
Yet there are still many lawyers who dis-
miss accountants as "bean counters," a dan-
gerous stereotype. e Big Four are really
business consulting firms: they've spent de-
cades forging deep relationships with their
clients, working to understand their busi-
nesses in ways few law firms do. ey have
brands more powerful than any law firm has
achieved. ey advise clients on everything.
Law firms advise clients only on the law.
Lawyers oen say that accountants will
never compete for the truly valuable "bet the
company" work. is is probably true
— but
it also misses the point. Accounting firms
don't want "bet the company" work. ey want "run the company"
work. And they're getting it, in mid-level corporate/commercial, la-
bour and employment, regulatory compliance, immigration and, of
course, tax law. And there is far more of this type of work.
When, not if, an accounting giant starts to compete with your
law firm, don't bother picking a fight with it: these entities dwarf
even the world's largest law firms. (e smallest Big Four firm,
KPMG, employs about 174,000 people.) It won't be a fair fight, or a
long one. Instead, learn from their examples in client service.
e Big Four prioritize the client relationship: they learn every-
thing they can about the challenges, risks and opportunities facing
the companies they serve, and they constantly look for ways to help
their clients achieve their goals. ey streamline their processes
and systematize their operations with technology, in order to make
their costs of production lower and more predictable. ey promote
their brand above their individual professionals, not the other way
around. And they lavish attention on their current clients, in sharp
contrast to law firms, which oen seem more interested in bringing
in new clients than servicing the ones they already have.
Accounting firms are not superior to law firms when it comes to
legal expertise — not yet, anyway. But they are superior when it
comes to client knowledge, service and value for money. Law firms
that can seriously compete on those grounds will be in the best posi-
tion to succeed in a legal marketplace where accounting firms aren't
tomorrow's looming threat, but today's ordinary reality.
Jordan Furlong is a legal market consultant, author and speaker. He is a principal
with Edge International Consulting and writes about market trends at law21.ca.
ILLUSTRATION:
CLARE
MALLISON
Eating Your Lunch
The accountants aren't "coming" to infiltrate law. They're already here
>
ACCOUNTING
FIRMS ARE SUPERIOR
WHEN IT COMES TO
CLIENT KNOWLEDGE,
SERVICE AND VALUE
FOR MONEY
| COLUMNS |
BY JORDAN FURLONG
CHANGE AGENT
