On this 4th of July week, we Americans celebrate our independence from the UK.
But, as lawyers who love innovation, we should also take a moment to admire our innovative legal brethren across the pond — who seeded our common law, after all. While we come from the same legal roots, today the UK legal market is fundamentally different from ours . . . in many ways, better. Why?
Well, since the passage of the 2007 Legal Services Act, which allows non-attorney ownership of law firms (also known as an ABS structure) there has been an explosion in innovative business models combining great lawyers, business professionals, and technologists (think Riverview Law). UK Biglaw also seems to get that times are changing. A&O, for example, has actively reimagined the “obsolete” Biglaw model, and embraced the disaggregated future through launches of new and innovative businesses filling legal and quasi-legal niches! (I still want my interview with Biglaw hero, David Morley, if he’s reading this.)
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