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the accountancy giants EY KPMG PWC and
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Deote all had a dream that they would
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challenge the UK legal market but that
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has not quite worked out now the four
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firms have had legal practices since the
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1990s but it was the introduction of the
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alternative business structure licenses
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in 2007 that had them feeling
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competitive pwc was the first of the big
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four firms to launch a dedicated legal
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service arms known as PWC legal in 2014
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followed shortly by EY law and KPMG law
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UK deote completed a group with the
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launch of Deote Legal in 2018 data by SA
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Business School in 2023 revealed the big
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four legal revenue rose from $900
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million in 2015 to $1.2 billion in 2017
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but the cracks have started to show
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following the news of redundancies at EY
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law last week it was reported that the
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firm is cutting around 30 roles in its
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legal department but this wasn't the
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first time EY has taken shears to its
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legal arm as back in December 2023 news
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broke it was shutting its
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Manchesterbased legal services EY
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Riverview Law while on top of this its
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headcount dropped to around 160 after a
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series of high-profile departures
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including nearly a dozen of lawyers
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leaving for the London office of a US
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law firm at the end of last year now
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according to Scott Gibson director of
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recruitment firm Edward Gibson's between
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2019 and 2024 the big four legal
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division combined hired 35 partners in
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London now but this was against they
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lost 40 partners to rival firms so why
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are the big four struggling to cut
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through to the UK legal markets well one
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challenge lies in conflicts says
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recruiter Christopher Clark as the big
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four are tightly regulated by the
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financial reporting council due to the
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red line tape at the accountancy
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departments if the firm is audited in a
1:53
certain business's financials the rest
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of his businesses cannot touch any work
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for that client another issue is
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structure of the firms as recruiter Nick
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Wolf noted the legal practices will pale
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compared to other parts of the firm he
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also noted that the lawyers who take
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pride in their own book of businesses
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will struggle at the big four firms
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compared to a traditional law firm now
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out of the big four KPMG seems to be
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keeping his head above the water last
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month it launched the first law firm
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owned by a big four firm serving a US
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market gibson noted that KPMG hired
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eight partners for KPMG Law UK in London
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versus just one for the rest of the big
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four now a spokesperson for KPMG told
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Citym that while there is a lot of
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uncertainty in the market the firm
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continues to grow and there are
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opportunities to help clients going
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forward for the other big four giants
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gibson noted that with the possibility
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exceptions of KPMG the rest of the big
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four are struggling to compete in the UK
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legal market this comes as Citym has
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reported on the big four profitability
2:57
problem so for more on this story as
2:59
well as the profitability problem at the
3:01
big four check out cm.com
