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Large Company buys up loads of law firms, attempts to take over the high street law market - and fails. Quelle surprise?

Hmm. Slater & Gordon are struggling - job losses, share value dropping, company turnover plummeting.. Our local radio station seems to have stopped playing adverts mentioning the local law firm brand aged 100 years+ with the added catchphrase "part of Slater & Gordon".

Is this going to be a new competition? Guess how long the new legal market entrant is going to last?

When are large multinationals and organisations going to realise that high street law is profitable to a certain degree but seemingly very dependent on a relatively small scale operation?

Anyone remember the bulk conveyancing operations of the 1990s and 2000s? Barnetts in Southport is a good example. The senior partner there seemed to be the Law Society Gazette favourite whenever a quote was needed on modernising the way high street law firms worked. He was forever commenting on how profitable everyone could be if only they looked to the future. Now look at them - RIchard Barnett was struck off for using a loan to pay off his firm's overdraft in a desperate effort to stay afloat.

So many worries about Tescos Law - Quality Solicitors setting up in WH Smiths, the Cooperative Legal Services division expanding, the AA and even Stobarts trucking have all had a go. Have they been lured in by very inaccurate media reports of fat cat solicitors raking it in from legal aid and volume conveyancing/personal injury operations?

Who is going to be next - perhaps Sainsburys could take over a large regional law firm and attempt to conquer the world?

Jonathan Fagan is Managing Director of Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment and a non-practising Solicitor. Ten-Percent Legal Recruitment provides online Legal Recruitment for Solicitors, Legal Executives, Fee Earners, Support Staff, Managers and Paralegals. Visit our Website to search our Vacancy Database. 
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Location: London, UK

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