As the consulting sector continues to disrupt the legal market, legal firm Taylor Rose has seized the initiative by pivoting to offer its own consulting wing. Since the pre-pandemic, yearly consulting revenues within the firm have more than quadrupled.
Adrian Jaggard, CEO, Taylor Rose, commented, “The past year has marked a step-change in the growth of our consultancy division, which has become one of the key drivers of our continued expansion. Our integrated growth strategy, where the development of our traditional practice through M&A continues alongside the growth of the consultancy division, is paying dividends as it enables our consultants to benefit from referrals and increased marketing and business development capability, enabling us to attract bigger contracts and attract and retain talent more effectively.”
The legal industry has been facing disruption from digital competitors, and even an incursion from the professional services world’s Big Four, for years now. At the same time, these pressures have been compounded by Brexit and the ongoing pandemic. With that being said, many firms have also recognised present conditions provide opportunities, as well as challenges.
A report earlier in the year from Crowe found that legal services operators last year enjoyed a remarkable revenue growth of 6.7%. Meanwhile, 44% of the market found this was accelerated with growth beyond 10%. Now, a further paper, this time from Arden Partners, may have provided an explanation for this unexpected news.
Many firms are altering course to adapt to the incursion of consultants in the market, by themselves adopting a legal consultant business model – and this is so common that the researchers anticipate it will soon become the dominant model for the consolidation of high street and mid-market law firms – stimulated by the success of remote working during the pandemic and the benefit of significant investment in IT and back office infrastructure. Meanwhile, approximately one-third of all UK lawyers could be working under the legal consultants’ banner in just five years’ time, marking significant disruption in the legal sector.
In the case of Taylor Rose, the firm is one of the fastest growing in the UK thanks to this shift. Founded in 2009 as Taylor Rose Law, since the business pivoted to add a legal consulting offering, it has more than doubled the number of consultant solicitors in its legal consultancy division over the past year. With more than 350 now present, its current growth rate is between 15-20% per month.
Antony Jaggard, Director, Consultant Services, Taylor Rose, added, “Consultancy has become an attractive and viable alternative way of working for experienced lawyers that offers increased earnings and a better work/life balance. We’ve worked hard to develop a platform and processes that give our consultants the best possible experience and which is now really paying off.”
The legal consultant business model offers lawyers a central service platform, brand and management infrastructure from which to operate, in return for a percentage of the lawyer’s revenue. The lawyers themselves are self-employed consultants, who retain an average of 70% of their billings, with the remainder taken by the consultancy firm.
According to Taylor Rose, its consult ants also enjoy marketing support, a recognised brand, sophisticated IT support and systems, professional indemnity insurance and SRA supervision, as well as the lower operating costs of home working. Meanwhile, the firm still operates a more traditional practice with 500 employees. All in all, the firm’s operations generated revenues of £70 million in the year ending September 2021.
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