It cites research showing the Big Four accountancy firms―Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and EY―could draw annual revenue of £23.5bn from legal services, and that PwC currently has 3,600 lawyers.
Prism, a managed IT service provider, which published the report, ‘Enhanced productivity for the legal sector’, this week, found that two-thirds of law firms are ‘concerned’ about the threat posed by accounting firms and others, and 45% consider them to be a ‘major threat’. It notes that commoditisation of legal work and pressure from clients for better deals has ramped up cost pressures on law firms.
Millennial clients, in particular, it says, ‘put a high value on customer experience and are only willing to hire for a fixed fee’, and they want seamless remote contact.
Prism also cites research showing 2.3 hours per week are lost searching for but not finding past emails and documents. This may cost some law firms more than £50,000 per lawyer per year.
