Law Firm Growth Summit 2026

Registration and refreshments

Welcome from the Chair

Neil Rose, Editor, Legal Futures

Keynote address: Open to all – the changing face of the legal market

Our keynote speaker has been deeply involved in the opening up of the legal market, first at the Legal Services Board, then at the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and finally as a consultant to many of the most eye-catching new businesses in the market. Now a key player in efforts to allow external investment in US law firms too, he will explain what is really going on in the market and how the coming years could see even more fundamental change.

Speaker:
Crispin Passmore, Co-founder, Passmore & Oliver Partners

Our external investment journey

A growing number of law firms of all sizes have taken external investment and in this session we will hear from them about their experiences. We have Stowe Family Law, which was bought by a global alternative investment manager in 2024 from its private equity owner; rradar, which is supported by a Middle East sovereign wealth fund; and contentious probate practice IDR Law, one of the smallest firms to have private equity backing.

Speakers:
Ken Fowlie, Chairman, Stowe Family Law
Gary Gallen, CEO, rradar
Martin Holdsworth, CEO, IDR Law
Another speaker to be confirmed

Networking Break

The outside view

Why has the legal market become the so attractive to external investors? And what is it like to find and do deals with lawyers? This panel is made up of those who have entered the legal market from the outside – Lawfront, the leading PE-backed buy-and-build group; MAPD, a debt-funded law firm group – and an investment banker who has advised on several high-profile deals in the law.

Speakers:

Neil Lloyd, CEO, Lawfront
Joanna Kingston-Davies, Co-founder, MAPD
Will Evans, Arrowpoint Advisory
Another speaker to be confirmed

A PE investment journey

Leonard Curtis is a business that advises law firms on their growth strategies and also when in distress. Further, it owns a law firm of its own. And it was bought in August 2025 by Pollen Street Capital, a private capital asset manager. In this session, delegates will be taken through how the process works from both sides and where Leonard Curtis goes from here.

Speaker to be confirmed

Networking Lunch

White Knights? The story of the law’s biggest consolidator

Since listing in 2018, Knights has been on a remarkable journey. Some 28 acquisitions later, on top of organic growth, it has gone from a business with a turnover of £35m, 350 fee-earners and six offices, to a turnover of £162m, 1,000 fee-earners and 32 offices. There have been bumps on the road, of course, and in this session we will hear from the man who has steered Knights through all of it.

Speaker:
David Beech, CEO, Knights

Law firm M&A in 2026

The number of law firms in England and Wales has fallen from a little under 11,000 in 2010 to under 9,000 today. There are many reasons for this but consolidation through M&A – mostly still by so-called traditional firms – is an increasingly prominent part of the story. In this session, we will hear from experts on what the prospects are for firms looking to buy or be bought, and what impact proposed SRA rules on its supervision of M&A will have.

Speakers:
Katharine Lawrenson, Solicitor/Director, Head of Insolvency, Leonard Curtis Legal
Jeff Zindani, CEO, Acquira Professional Services
More speakers to be confirmed

Networking Break

Other growth models

It’s not just about external capital. Thanks to ABSs, there are many new models lawyers are using to grow their practices. Among those we will examine in this session are being acquired by Make UK, which represents the manufacturing industry, an employee-owned firm that has since made several acquisitions, and – with an eye very much on the future – Garfield, the first regulated AI law firm.

Speakers:
Jay Bhayani, CEO, Bhayani Law
Dave Hodgetts, CEO, Talbots Law
Philip Young, Founder, Garfield
More speakers to be confirmed