A third of top UK law firms could no longer exist by 2022 as accountants and other providers pile pressure on fees, expert predicts

Changes sweeping the legal profession will mean that a third of the current top 300 UK firms will no longer exist by 2022 unless firms become more competitive and transparent on the price of services, a law firm finance expert has forecasted.

Corporate finance expert and qualified barrister John Llewellyn-Lloyd has predicted that new entrants to the market will continue to squeeze law firms, driver mergers and challenge the relevance of the old partnership model, with accountants set to gain a much greater slice of the market share. Speaking at the Legal Futures Innovation Conference, Llewellyn-Lloyd also said that fixed fees and work carried out through mobile devices will become the norm for all consumer legal services.

He continued: “We are already seeing the global elite firms, the big American and magic circle firms, apply more and more pressure on the middle-market players who are definitely getting the squeeze. Increasingly the trend for them will be to merge or specialise – standing still is not an option. The high street will see big changes in the next three to four years and it will all be about scale and price efficiency. At the moment the price point is wrong, lawyers are not prepared to provide a service at a relatively low price, and the transparency is not there. As this is corrected over the next few years, there will be a lot of consolidation.”