Passmore: Change is speeding up
A specialist strategic consultancy advising lawyers, investors and regulators has spun out of a City law firm as demand for help in navigating the legal market grows.
Passmore & Oliver Partners is founded by Crispin Passmore, who as executive director at the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) encouraged the growth of alternative business structures (ABSs), and Juliet Oliver, more recently the SRA’s deputy chief executive and general counsel.
Mr Passmore, a former director of the Legal Services Board as well, folded his consultancy business into Kingsley Napley’s legal services advisory practice a year ago to create Stratify [1].
Passmore & Oliver Partners will operate independently but in “close partnership” with Kingsley Napley, which has an equity stake in the new business.
Mr Passmore said he had discovered over the past year that the market wanted “a global, independent consultancy that understands both regulation and strategy, but remains closely connected to legal practice”. That was what the new arrangement achieved.
He went on: “Change in the legal market has been happening gradually — and now it’s starting to happen suddenly.
“Capital is transforming law firms’ business models in both the UK and the US, and that is impacting worldwide. Our mission is to help lawyers, investors, and regulators understand and harness that change.”
He explained that this year had seen “an acceleration of three strategic challenges for law firms around the world”: the need to invest in technology/AI; challenges in attracting and retaining talent; and difficulty in executing mergers and acquisitions “without a balance sheet”.
Mr Passmore continued: “This is leading to more and more law firms wanting to understand how to raise capital and invest in the long-term growth and success of the firm.
“In the US in particular, the acceleration of ABSs in Arizona, working out how to operate across the whole country despite fee-sharing rules remaining in place in other states, has grown in impact. But in particular it has led to many law firms, including large ones, starting to explore the models often seen in accounting, medicine and other professions to bring capital into their firm to tackle the three challenges.
“In turn the steady consolidation of the UK legal market continues, with the number of lawyers increasing but the number of firms shrinking. Capital is only accelerating that as it is deployed to face up to the challenges.
“Investors like law – profitable, strong growth, ripe for consolidation and better technology, with a strong moat.”
Ms Oliver added: “Between us, we’ve designed and implemented many of the regulatory reforms that now underpin modern legal markets. We understand both the regulatory perspective and the commercial drivers underpinning the current and future legal market.”
Kingsley Napley managing partner Matt Meyer said: “Kingsley Napley has always been committed to innovation in professional services, and this collaboration strengthens our ability to serve clients across the full lifecycle, from regulatory complexity to strategic growth. Passmore & Oliver Partners will extend the reach of what we can do together.”
Clients working with the pair at Kingsley Napley are being invited to transition their matters to Passmore and Oliver Partners.