Private Equity investment is rapidly emerging as a transformative force in the legal sector, offering law firms access to capital, operational expertise, and new growth opportunities. While regulatory barriers remain in most jurisdictions, innovative structures such as Managed Service Organizations are enabling firms to engage with outside investors without compromising legal independence. The evolving landscape — marked by increased partner mobility, generational shifts, and the rise of artificial intelligence — demands that law firm partners proactively assess the strategic implications of PE investment. Firms that embrace these changes may gain significant competitive advantages, but careful consideration of opportunities and risks remain essential to ensure long-term success.   The past months, not a week went by without at least 2 or 3 articles on Private Equity investments in law firms. The biggest news arguably was about McDermoth considering a PE funded MSO structure. Where previous Alternative Business Structures (ABS) were limited to smaller law firms in jurisdictions that allow, outside ownership, McDermoth is a 1800 lawyer, 20+ offices giant, with about 2.2 billion in revenue, operating in jurisdictions where ownership is strictly limited to registered lawyers only. After the pandemic the legal sector has seen some unprecedented changes. The rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence is one of them, but also the executive orders against some law firms by the Trump administration. The disruption of international trade and the global economic order are causing firms to reassess their international presence, causing expansion and reduction into and from certain jurisdictions. Today it is still hard to predict the impact of AI on the legal industry. It seems unlikely that the traditional pyramid structure will survive, which will have direct implications for leverage and pricing. It is not unlikely that AI will fundamentally disrupt the delivery model of legal services. A small number of firms such as A&O-Shearman (Belfast) and Clifford Chance (Newcastle) seem well positioned with their advanced AI integration and low-cost legal support centers. Most firms, except for perhaps the absolute elite, will need to reinvent their business- and service delivery model. Talent has become increasingly central to certain segments of the market. In New York today, profit shares of 25-30 million are no exceptions among the top-firms. Partner mobility has increased in the most legal markets, and has become a key element in growth in revenue and profitability. The ability to hire and retain talent is now central to a firm’s success. In the next five years or so the industry will see a great number of today’s rainmakers retire, putting a lot of emphasis on structured succession planning. At the other end, the Gen-Z young talent has a slightly different perspective on career and success in life. The above are just a selection of challenges facing law firms today. It would be easy to dedicate a whole article on this topic, but this in this article I want to focus on the opportunities and risks of Private Equity investment in law firms. Law firms offer an attractive investment potential to Private Equity because of the traditionally high client retention and the predictable cash flows. There is still a lot of market fragmentation, allowing for a buy-and-build approach. Law firms generally have a solid reputation and a great growth track-record: ever since the 1950ties profits have consistently gone up, not even Goldman Sachs can say that. From the law firm’s perspective, engaging with outside investment would offer access to capital for expansion, talent, technology or acquisitions. Private Equity also adds operational expertise, bringing professionalized management and performance monitoring. It will help with succession planning, addressing partner retirements and ownership transitions. Private Equity will also create economies of scale, consolidation, talent retention, brand visibility and access to the investor’s ecosystem. This sounds like a win-win situation, right? Reality is that outside ownership in law firm is currently prohibited everywhere except for a handful of areas, most notably England and Wales where Alternative Business Structures have been allowed since 2007 (Legal Services Act). Further, Arizona, Utah and Washington DC, spring to mind, as does Australia. The results so far have been lackluster: most investment has been in low profile smaller firms that did not grow to great fruition. Because of this ban on non-lawyer (co)ownership, Private Equity and interested law firms are now looking at the Managed Service Organization (MSO), whereby all non-legal functions and activities get separated from the lawyer work. This would  include all staff services, office lease and also the brand. There will be a Service Level Agreement (SLA) and partners will also get a stake in the MSO. This structure allows for the legal arm to remain fully independent and in compliance with the current bar regulations, although some would argue that even this would not be allowed. The discussion on the regulatory topic revolves very much around independence. The ideal theoretical lawyer is totally free from any commercial considerations and only acts in the best interest of the client. In my experience today indeed lawyers act in the interest of the client, but that does not mean that they are free from commercial considerations. In effect big-law already has been a business for many years. Law firms have a strong focus on profitability and partners are subject to predefined performance criteria. Partners that trail behind are kindly requested to leave the firm. Partners are mostly no longer partners in the true sense of the word, they are shareholders instead. Structures are optimized for tax purposes and limiting professional liability. Also in the day-to-day operation of the firm, much is left to management and not to the partner meeting. It has been reported that both for the merger between A&O and Sherman & Sterling and recently Ashurst and Perkins Coie, the partners were not consulted prior to the merger being announced. The theoretical ideal has long been overtaken by the reality of law firms operating very much like any other business. So the question is if PE ownership really represents a fundamental threat. I am not convinced that will be the case. From the point of perverse incentives, Litigation Funding seems more risky to me and this has by now been widely accepted. “You can take change by the hand, or it will grab you by the throat” (Churchill) Today there seems to be a lot of momentum to make PE investment in law firms happen. On 28 November we organized a seminar on the topic which drew great attendance, I doubt if this would have been the same half a year ago. In August 2025, six business law firms in Sweden left the Swedish Bar Association to become AGRD Partners, a new legal service group backed by Danish PE firm Axcel. It is most likely that this is only the start and over time more law firms probably from other jurisdictions will join AGRD partners. Today that would mean leaving their National Bar Association. Leaving the Bar for most lawyers will be a price too high to pay. Membership provides a quality guarantee, legal privilege and the right to litigate in court. But once you peel away the emotions and look clinically at the facts, most work lawyers do, certainly in an advisory practice, could be done without membership. Bar Associations will need to navigate carefully, but proactively and with speed to avoid structurally losing members in the near future. Once a number of law firms will adopt PE investment, this will disrupt the level playing field. Such firms will have a significant competitive advantage over their peers, leaving those peers trailing behind. Private Equity will certainly not be the best way forward for every law firm. As the legal sector stands on the brink of significant transformation, now is the time for law firm partners to proactively evaluate the strategic opportunities and risks of Private Equity investment. By being proactive your firm can position itself to capitalize on new growth avenues, maintain competitive advantage, and navigate the evolving landscape with confidence. We will be most happy to facilitate this process.

September 2023 it was announced that three Kirland & Ellis partners would move to Paul Weiss. According to people close to the matter, the trio would each receive $20 million in annual compensation at their new firm. This is quite exceptional as today at Am Law 25 firms, only a handful of partners have comp in excess of $20 million. The news will undoubtedly leave a number of partners elsewhere in town feeling all at once very unhappy and under-rewarded. Modified lockstep For compensating its partners, most firms today have a system that includes elements of merit based compensation as well as seniority based. Some well-known firms with pure lockstep have introduced merit based differentiators in order to retain and attract star partners. What the modified lockstep looks like varies wildly. Most firms have adopted a set of – sometimes very detailed and complicated – rules for calculating each partner’s profit share. Others involve a compensation committee or have the managing partner decide. Compensation for yardstick Why is partner compensation such a hot topic in many law firms? Partners in business law firms invariably earn more than 99% of the population, so why not just be happy with it and focus on clients and family? One reason is that partner compensation is used as a yardstick for the success of the firm. Partners always compare PEP with other firms, seeing a close competitor have higher comp will trigger a heated debate on the firm’s strategy and sometimes results in star partners leaving. Also the opposite is true: a highly competitive partner compensation is a prerequisite for lateral hiring of rainmakers, which in turn could help the firm become even more successful. This is what’s happening at Paul Weiss. Which compensation model is best? Ideally in a firm, all partners are equally successful in the market and are happy to cooperate with each other. If the bandwidth between partners is narrow, there will be no need for merit based differentiation and lockstep will help avoid partners starting to compete with each other. Each partner will always act with the interest of the firm in mind. Unfortunately there is no ideal world in which each partner is equally successful and also partners are inclined to prioritize self-interest before firm-interest. This will even happen in lockstep firms as each partner is under pressure to meet his/her target. Partners start monopolizing client relationships and are trying to get files in which also other partners are active, to be administered under their name. Now the solidarity which underpins the lockstep is compromised, cracks will start to appear. Collaboration will suffer and star partners will demand action against slackers. One could also start from the other end assuming that self-interest is the norm and make the compensation fully merit based. This could even go as far as partners charging internally for helping out in another partner’s file. Such ‘eat what you kill’ compensation systems will allow for a very large bandwidth in partner performance, but provide no incentive for collaboration. Fully merit based systems also give young new partners a difficult start as in order to make an income they will have little alternative than working in other partners files at a reduced rate and without quickly growing a client base of their own. Since both lockstep and ‘eat what you kill’ have their problems, it comes as no surprise the hybrid modified lockstep has become the most popular. In reality the modified lockstep suffers from the same issues: collaboration remains an issue and the weak partners irritate the star partners. “There is no evidence to support that compensation impacts partner performance” Carrot and stick As stated, in our practice we have seen a great many different partner compensation models. Most of them have a few things in common: they favor a small group of partners and they aim to influence partner behavior. Let’s examen both in more detail. Mostly compensations systems favor the more senior partners with an established practice. One argument could be the firm must prevent such rainmakers to leave. While there certainly is some truth in that, it also creates problems, notably when it comes to succession. Also this group is typically also involved in the leadership of the firm whether it be formal or informal. Granting themselves the largest cut can in a way be self-serving. And I have not even mentioned ‘origination credits’, which also disproportionately favors this group. Over there years we have done multiple in depth analysis and never have we found any evidence that individual partner performance and behavior can be significantly influenced by compensation. Never have we seen a weak partner show better performance after his/her compensation was cut. Receiving less money will not transform a weak partner into a strong partner. This is similar for other aspects that are part of a partner compensation formula: rewarding collaboration hardly increases real world collaboration. Partners that feel comfortable collaborating will collaborate regardless and those that prefer to work on their own will continue to do so even it this means they will miss out on a small percentage of their compensation. As a rule of thumb: partner compensation is not the right tool to change the status quo. Only culture can do that. The bigger picture Partner compensation is one of those topics that we come across a lot when working with our clients. Many law firms spend disproportionate amounts of time discussing how to divide the profit among the partners. The problem I see is that having lengthy conversations on how to distribute profit does not make the firm as such more profitable. These discussions are just inward looking and a time and emotions consuming energy drain. We have found there are typically two triggers for discussing partner comp. The first is heavy lifters complaining about partners that seem to enjoy a free ride and don’t put in the effort. The other trigger is the wish to change partner behavior, typically this means stimulating collaboration. As mentioned before, there is no evidence that partner compensation changes partner performance. Taking away money from a weak partner will just legitimize their weakness. Giving more money to a top performer will only keep him/her happy for so long. We have looked in depth at lateral movements of partners across a number of markets. In some markets lateral movements are common in other markets they remain rare and are frowned upon. One thing partners that move firm have in common: the primary motif for moving is rarely money. Typically, they have lost confidence in their firm’s strategy or have developed cultural or interpersonal issues. A partner that likes the firm culture, gets along with other partners and feels supported, is unlikely to leave for more money. Using PEP as a yardstick for performance also has its flaws. Generally we at TGO Consulting prefer to look at profit margin, revenue per lawyer and a number of other indicators more relevant to a firm’s performance. Bottomline Law firms are well advised to have a permanent focus on performance and profitability on a firm level and not so much on an individual partner level. Partners should spend less time discussing internal matters and more time identifying and sharing business opportunities. Firms should invest in creating or maintain a result driven, inclusive, collaborative culture. Partner compensation should not disproportionally favor a small group and should be supportive for young partners who are still developing their practice. Any system that meets these criteria will do. Writing this article I noticed there is so much to cover when it comes to partner compensation, that it is impossible to squeeze it all in 1000 words. Potentially this is a good topic for my next book, what do you think?

Above image generated by using Dall-E artificial intelligence Although vast amounts of students graduate each year from law schools and universities, the talent pool for top law firms remains limited. Most graduates have no interest in working in Big Law, and of those who do, a number does not meet the quality criteria. As a rule of thumb less than 10% of all law graduates falls within the Big Law target group for recruitment. It seems that with Gen-Z this number is declining. This means that in most jurisdictions, there is more demand than there are talented graduates entering the market. Hence the ‘war for talent’. Law firms go through great lengths trying to identify top talent early on and spending substantial budgets (including offering salaries up to $190.000) luring them to their firm. Look at the ‘Careers’ sections of the websites and one could be inclined to believe that joining a top-law firm equals working in paradise. There is just so much emphasis on individual career paths, mentoring, diversity, personal development and super interesting work, that it is easy to forget that in reality it is just hard work, like it was pointed out in a presentation that transpired from Paul Hastings: It is hard work Although the prevailing sentiment after publication of this slide was outrage and denial, I don’t see much wrong with it. Anyone pursuing a career at the top end of the legal market can only succeed by putting in a lot of effort. If you cannot stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Having said that, this does not mean unfair and unhealthy working conditions. In February 2021 trainees at Goldman Sachs humbly requested management to be allowed to work slightly less than the about 100 working hours a week against an average of 5 hours of sleep: Fortunately, working conditions in law firms are nowhere near those at Goldman Sachs. However increasingly young lawyers are quitting the industry because of Uncaring Leaders, Unsustainable Performance Expectations and Lack of Career Development (McKinsey: Great Attrition, Great Attraction survey 2021) Generation Z Young lawyers entering the legal profession today are mostly born after 1997, the year that marks the beginning of Generation-Z. The first started during the Pandemic when there was hardly anyone in the office and at the same time workload was very high. Law firms, like other industries, seem to be confused and spooked by this new generation which is believed to have different priorities-in-life and no ‘old-school work ethos’. While it remains questionable if this is a fair characterization, many law firms struggle with how to ‘manage’ these young professionals. It is hard to count the huge number of reports, articles, conferences and workshops that have been devoted to Gen Z in the legal industry alone. This can probably be traced back to the perceived gap in the mindset and values of the partners – Baby Boomers and Generation X – and those of the new recruits. The former claim they had to work hard for their achievements, the latter were allegedly born with a silver spoon in their mount. Although this characterization is largely a caricature, Gen Z is different in at least one crucial aspect: young people resent being ‘just a cog in the billing machine’. For them the purpose of life is not helping the partners make millions. They are in it for themselves, not for the partners. Law firms are increasingly aware of this, hence the wordings on the career sections of their websites: “we value you as a person”, “we will invest in your personal growth and development” Preferring Profit over People During the Pandemic, profits soared across the legal industry. Demand was plentiful and costs were low. For most law firms 2020 and 2021 have been the best years on record. Last year, 2022, could not have been more different. The world entered in a global economic crisis. Inflation became high and money tight. At the same time costs substantially increased. All this impacted partner profits and that is where problems arise. Unlike other entrepreneurs and businesses, partners in law firms have for decades only experienced a steady growth in profit. To the extent that even slowing growth would lead to ‘panic’. A decrease in profit, in the minds of many partners, would be totally unacceptable. Now this is the reality for the first time. Welcome to the world I’d say. For a growing number of law firms, the prospect of slightly lower partner profits, compared to the year before - but still above 2019 - became unbearable. To ‘rescue’ the profits, law firms have started to layoff junior associates. The trend is to quietly make cuts through the review process. This year’s "aggressive" performance reviews* are resulting in an increasingly blurry line between layoffs and review-time cuts. On social media associates are buzzing with chatter about layoffs and cuts at many firms. No need explaining that for Gen Z social media carries more weight than law firms’ website ‘career’ pages. The Profit is in the People I have said it before and I will say it again: for a law firm people are the most important asset. The business of law is people’s business before anything else. No law firm can gain an advantage over the competition based on legal knowledge. It is the non-legal skills and attributes that make the difference. The law firm that is the best in attracting, retaining and developing talent is the one that is going to win. The knee jerk reaction to cull talent to save the profit might turn out to be a costly mistake. These firms might save some pennies on the short term, but they will suffer reputational damage for the years to come. There is a ‘war for talent’ and Gen Z does not want to be just a cog in the partners’ money machine. There is no better way to highlight that is ultimately what they are as by firing them at the first signs of headwind. Layoffs are short sighted and selfish. The same thing happened after the 2008 Banking Crisis and it became something those firms bitterly regretted. When the economy picked-up they found themselves understaffed and unable to attract new talent in a buoyant market. The difference is that at that time it were the Millennials, who tend to be more forgiving than Generation Z… Invest in talent development For commercial companies it is normal that revenue and profitability show variations over the years. Even Goldman Sachs has good years and bad years. Law firms partners must understand and accept that the legal industry cannot remain an exception and that sometimes a decline in profit is just a consequence of the economic reality. Like other entrepreneurs and businesses, law firm partners are well advised to focus on cumulative profit over the years. In today’s economy it is probably smarter to invest in talent, even though it impacts this year’s profit. Those law firms that retain their talent and invest in developing legal and non-legal skills will be tomorrow’s winners. Taken over a number of years these firms will have a better average profitability. TGO Consulting has developed a methodology that helps law firms with setting up a sustainable talent development program for all lawyers, juniors and partners alike. *Note: Structural periodical performance reviews are essential and should be standard practice at any law firm. The purpose of such reviews is to provide the associates with open, honest and constructive feedback, aimed to learn and improve. Feedback should never come as a surprise or ‘out of the blue’. Associates should get sufficient time and coaching.

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Enhancing law firm profitability. article Dutch financial press December 2025 Following a seminar 28 November 2025 in Amsterdam organized by TGO Consulting together with ABN Amro bank and Zumpolle van der Stoel head hunters, on the topic of Private Equity in the legal sector, the Dutch financial press Het Financieele Dagblad wrote an article discussing the results. article MenA December 2025 Following a seminar 28 November 2025 in Amsterdam organized by TGO Consulting together with ABN Amro bank and Zumpolle van der Stoel head hunters, on the topic of Private Equity in the legal sector, the Dutch M&A platform MenA published an article on the content. zhihe - intelligeast November 2023 Shanghai based Zhihe, the leading educational network and publishing platform in the Chinese legal market, published an article on profit distribution systems written by Jaap Bosman: link to the article here (in Chinese) zhihe - intelligeast June 2023 Shanghai based Zhihe, the leading educational network and publishing platform in the Chinese legal market, published an article on the hiring of talent law firm written by Jaap Bosman: link to the article here (in Chinese) zhihe - intelligeast June 2023 Shanghai based Zhihe, the leading educational network and publishing platform in the Chinese legal market, published an article on the effects of chatGPT written by Jaap Bosman: link to the article here (in Chinese) Law360 article May 2023 Jaap Bosman was asked to comment on the merger between Sherman & Sterling and Allen & Overy in a Law360 article shortly after the announcement. LATAM 2022 Legal Executive Briefing June 2022 Jaap Bosman was a keynote speaker at Thomson Reuters' Latin American Executive Briefing 2022 in Sao Paulo, together with Jaime Fernandez Madero. Legal Disruptors conference 2022 June 2022 Jaap Bosman was a keynote speaker at the Legal Disruptors 2022 conference in Prague, talking about the 7 core dimensions of successful lawyers. ACC Europe May 2022 Jaap Bosman was a speaker at the European conference of the Association of Corporate Counsel in Madrid. column De Jurist March 2022 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper . (In Dutch ) column De Jurist February 2022 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper . (In Dutch ) succession planning February 2022 Jaap Bosman is a contributing writer to Globe Law & Business' publication Succession Planning , edited by Katerina Mennhenet. Read more here . column De Jurist January 2022 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The January column asks for a debate in how we want to tackle limitations on constitutional rights in future crises. (In Dutch ) article on TGO Offsite Retreat December 2021 The plans for TGO Offsite Retreat in Swdeden were presented in Swedish newspaper Falköpings Tidning, along with an interview with Jaap Bosman and Lisa Hakanson. lecture ESCP Paris November 2021 Students from the ESCP Business School in Paris (MSc International Business Law & Management) met with Jaap Bosman to discuss the place and importance of soft skills in the legal field and what human qualities a lawyer should have. column de jurist October 2021 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The October column discusses consequences of hybrid working (in Dutch ). interview belgian corporate counsel magazine October 2021 The yearly publication of IBJ, the corporate counsel association of Belgium, celebrates its 150th edition and publishes an interview with Jaap Bosman. column de jurist August 2021 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The August column argues three important subjects are missing from the law school curriculum (in Dutch ). JUVE legal operations conference June 2021 Jaap Bosman held the opening keynote of the JUVE Legal Operations Konferenz 2021, on the topic of bifurcation in the legal market. column de jurist May 2021 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The May column urges law firms not to go back to 'normal' but to 'better' (in Dutch). ACC Europe Annual Conference May 2021 The association of corporate counsel (ACC) Europe held its Annual Conference 2021 online. Together with GCs and law firm partners, Jaap Bosman held a session on Optimising partnerships with outside counsel through data and dialogue . column de jurist April 2021 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The April column looks at law firm investments (in Dutch). law firm leaders master class March 2021 Jaap Bosman held a Master Class for law firm leaders at the Law Firm Leadership & Management Program in Shanghai China. column de jurist March 2021 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist , a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad , Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The March column looks at how more rules on ethics will fail to give result (in Dutch). law firm leaders master class February 2021 Jaap Bosman will in March 2021 hold a Master Class for law firm leaders at the Law Firm Leadership & Management Program in China, joined by Scott Westfahl, Harvard, and Peter Zeughauser, Zeughauser Group. interview Jaap Bosman February 2021 Leading up to the Law Firm Leadership & Management Program in China, March 2021, Jaap Bosman has been interviewed on law firm management by legal publishing platform Zihe. column de Jurist January 2021 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist, a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad, Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The January column looks at five things we must improve in 2021 (in Dutch). article Modern Lawyer January 2021 Jaap Bosman contributed to Modern Lawyer with an article on swarm intelligence. Modern Lawyer is a publication of Globe Law and Business and edited by Dr Catherine McGregor. column de Jurist November 2020 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for de Jurist, a legal market publication from Het Financieele Dagblad, Netherlands leading financial newspaper. The November column looks at the financials of law firms in 2021 (in Dutch). legal awards October 2020 Legal publisher SDU annually hands our awards for achievements in the Dutch legal sector. Jaap Bosman is a member of the jury and had the honour to hand the Resilience Award to NautaDutilh (in Dutch). law360 October 2020 An article in Law360 (LexisNexis), by Aebra Coe, looks into partner pay guarantees: Is BigLaw Regretting Its Proclivity For Pay Guarantees? Jaap Bosman is asked to comment. Read more here . legal executive institute September 2020 Together with Nancey Watson , Jaap Bosman writes for the Legal Executive Institute (Thomson Reuters) an article on understanding the business is crucial for Legal. Read the article here dutch financial press - de jurist September 2020 Jaap Bosman is a columnist for Dutch legal publication de Jurist (Het Finanieele Dagblad). This article examines the pitfalls of working from home. Read the article here (in Dutch). law360 September 2020 Jaap Bosman comments on partner compensation systems in a Law360 article (LexisNexis), by Aebra Coe - Will Pure Lockstep Partner Pay Survive the Decade . Read the article here aba webinar June 2020 Jaap Bosman contributed to the 2020 Virtual Annual Meeting organized by the International Law Section of the ABA. More information on the Annual Meeting can be found here iba webinar May 2020 Jaap Bosman presented the kick-off webinar in the first ever Virtual Entrepreneurship Conference organized by IBA, with over 400 lawyers actively attending. A recording can be found here More information here law360 April 2020 An article in Law360 (LexisNexis), by Aebra Coe, looks into Corona crisis measures of law firms. The article refers to our blog and some of our analysis is quoted in the article. Find the article here zhihe - intelligeast March 2020 Shanghai based Zhihe, the leading educational network and service provider in the Chinese market, published an article written by Jaap Bosman: link to the article here (in Chinese) gazette du palais March 2020 Gazette du Palais, a leading legal market publication in France, published an interview with Jaap Bosman on Legal Technology and the Creation-Production Divide Concept. Read it here (pdf) or here (in French) acc docket March 2020 Jaap Bosman co-authored the Feature Article of the ACC Docket Magazine March 2020 issue, introducing a 3-step method for prioritizing legal matters in-house. You can read the article here podcast Finland February 2020 Jaap Bosman joined Casper Herler in a podcast on the future of the legal profession. They explore trends for the legal industry in the new decade. What is cognitive diversity? When is specialism bad? And many more. bloomberg law + bloomberg tax February 2020 Jaap Bosman’s widely discussed article for Bloomberg: 'Fundamental Changes Coming to the Legal Industry This Decade', published by Bloomberg Law and by Bloomberg Tax. zhihe - Shanghai January 2020 Shanghai based Zhihe, the leading educational network and service provider in the Chinese market, published a translated version of Jaap Bosman's original article "5 Trends that will define the New Decade for Law Firms " acc legal operations - virtual roundtable January 2020 Jaap Bosman & Vincent Cordo were invited by the ACC to a webinar/virtual roundtable on their book Data & Dialogue, a relationship redefined , focusing on concrete tools to get more value out external lawyers. law360 October 2019 An article in Law360, by Aebra Coe, examines the latest expansion of Dentons in the US, and quotes Jaap Bosman. Law360 is a LexisNexis company known for covering events in the legal market within 48 hours. acc australian corporate lawyer magazine October 2019 The Australian Corporate Lawyer magazine, by ACC Australia, featured an excerpt from the book Data & Dialogue - a relationship redefined in their spring issue 2019. innovation forum Shanghai August 2019 Zhihe, the largest legal community platform in China, and TGO Consulting lectured during the three day Law Firm Innovation Forum in Shanghai, joined by legal tech entrepreneurs and managing partners of law firms from all parts of China. law360 July 2019 An article in Law360, by Aebra Coe, examines the decision by Kirkland & Ellis to set up a plaintiffs' side trial group. Jaap Bosman is quoted, providing the context of litigation finance and its potential significant returns. acc breakfast meeting June 2019 At an ACC Europe breakfast meeting, hosted by EMEA headquarters of Uber, Jaap Bosman and Vincent Cordo gave a briefing on data analysis in legal services from their book Data & Dialogue, a relationship redefined , article aba Journal May 2019 ABAJournal.com published our column The 6 most important qualities for an equity partner. Jaap Bosman, is a regular contributor to the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. bloomberg law April 2019 Jaap Bosman is a contributor to Bloomberg Law. In this Insight article he writes about data analysis in the legal service sector and the insights provided by his new book Data & Dialogue, co-authored by Vincent Cordo . article aba journal April 2019 ABAJournal.com published an article The Legal Industry Will Need a New Breed of Lawyers , by Jaap Bosman, a regular contributor to the ABA Journal, the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. trends tendances April 2019 The Belgian business magazine Trends Tendances featured an interview with Jaap Bosman regarding the newly published book Data & Dialogue , co-authored by Vincent Cordo. (Article in French ) article aba journal Januay 2019 Jaap Bosman, TGO Consulting, is a regular contributor to the flagship magazine of the American Bar Association. ABAJournal.com published his article Monetizing your investment in legal tech law360 Januay 2019 Legal Sector Jobs Slump by Aebra Coe, Law360, examines the decline in the total number of jobs in the legal sector in Q4, 2018, quoting Jaap Bosman among other. keynote legal forum shanghai December 2018 Jaap Bosman delivered the closing keynote at the 智合论坛 / Intelligeast Forum 2018, Shanghai, the biggest seminar on the future of the legal profession in China to date. Other speakers include Richard Susskind and Ashish Nanda. article aba journal October 2018 Jaap Bosman, TGO Consulting, is a regular contributor to the ABA Journal. ABAJournal.com published his article: Are lawyers being trapped in their practice niches? inblf global annual meeting October 2018 The International Network of Boutique Law Firms (“INBLF”), a global organization of highly regarded boutique law firms, held their annual global meeting in Rome, where Jaap Bosman gave a keynote. harvard meeting October 2018 TGO Consulting met with directors of Harvard post-graduate law programmes to exchange views and experience. aija congress August 2018 Jaap Bosman held a keynote at the AIJA congress in Brussels on the topic of being an international lawyer. AIJA is a global association devoted to lawyers and in-house counsel aged 45. tgo client event August 2018 TGO Consulting held its client event in Bayreuth (Germany). We attended the performance of Richard Wagner's Walküre . aba journal June 2018 ABAJournal.com published our article It's not the associate salaries, it's the human skills that challenge law firms legal network emea meeting June 2018 Jaap Bosman contributed to the EMEA gathering of Multilaw in Malta, with a keynote on the changing relationship between clients and law firms brought on by, amongst other, data analysis. law firm leadership roundtable May 2018 Jointly with ABN AMRO Bank and ZumpolleVanderStoel legal headhunters, TGO Consulting hosted a roundtable with Managing Partners and GCs on the challenges of putting non-lawyers in client facing roles in law firms. aba journal April 2018 Jaap Bosman is a regular contributor to the ABA Journal of the American Bar Association. ABAJournal.com published his article Start monetizing those unused (discountable) billable hours . lexisnexis France March 2018 Revue Pratique de la Prospective et de l'Innovation, is a French lawyer magazine published by LexisNexis in partnership with the National Bar Association of France. Jaap Bosman contributed with an article on Prediction & Prevention in legal disputes. shanghai law association January 2018 The China Law Publishing House published a summary of the first Shanghai Law Association Law School lecture, held by Jaap Bosman. Kang Jianjun, vice President of Shanghai Law Association, presided at the opening lecture ceremony. all China lawyers association December 2017 Jaap Bosman and Lisa Hakanson from TGO Consulting visited the All China Lawyers Association in Beijing, China. Shenzen bar association December 2017 Jaap Bosman gave a lecture on the topic of ‘Building a great law firm’ at the Shenzen Bar Association, in Shenzen, China. law firm marketing summit London November 2017 Jaap Bosman held a keynote on positioning and brand building at the 2nd annual Law Firm Marketing Summit London, organised by The Global Legal Post and Global City Media. business radio November 2017 Jaap Bosman was interviewed on the Dutch business radio on the topic of law firm profitability in the legal market. The hour-long broadcast can be accessed as a pod-cast (in Dutch). Polish bar association October 2017 Jaap Bosman gave a lecture on the topic of ‘Building a profitable law firm in a digital age’ at the Polish Bar Association (KIRP), in Warsaw, Polen. global legal post October 2017 The Global Legal Post published comments by Jaap Bosman on the effects of commoditisation in the legal market and the factors changing the way corporate clients value and purchase legal services. law press China October 2017 Law Press China, dedicates their October newsletter to female partners of Chinese law firms. The newsletter concludes with a book review and recommendation of the book Death of a Law Firm. acc docket October 2017 The ACC Docket is the journal of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), publishes an article by Jaap Bosman on what it might look like for the in-house counsel of the future. ccbe e-book October 2017 The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) has published an eBook containing a collection of essays written by the expert speakers from their annual conference. Jaap Bosman contributed an article on the future of law and access to justice. international association of prosecutors September 2017 The International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) is the worldwide organization of prosecutors. Jaap Bosman was a speaker at the 22nd Annual Conference and General Meeting of the IAP , held in Beijing, China, addressing all Prosecutors General in a closed session. shanghai bar association September 2017 Jaap Bosman was invited by the Shanghai Bar Association, a lawyer's association with near 20.000 members in China, to hold a lecture to its members on the topic of business of law. tianjin bar association September 2017 Jaap Bosman was invited by the Tianjin Bar Association, Peoples Republic of China, to hold a lecture to its members on the topic of business of law. tianjin lawyer magazine September 2017 Tianjin Lawyer, the magazine for all members of the Tianjin Lawyers Association, published a review of Death of a Law Firm in their September issue. law360 August 2017 5 Ways Law Firms Can Harmonize Client Service, by Aebra Coe, Law360, charts what clients are looking for in terms of service experience, quoting Jaap Bosman among other. Law360 is a LexisNexis news company. law360 June 2017 Law360 is a LexisNexis company and news source for legal professionals, business leaders, and government officials. Jaap Bosman is quoted in an article by Sam Reisman regarding the malware attack on DLA Piper. global legal post June 2017 The Global Legal Post published an article on commoditization of legal services based on an article written by Jaap for the ABAJournal.com. aba journal June 2017 Jaap Bosman is a regular contributor to the ABA Journal, magazine of the American Bar Association. It published his article Do you suffer from commoditization blindness? , part of their Legal Rebels. death of a law firm June 2017 The publishing arm of the American Bar Association, ABA Book Publishing, published our book Death of a Law Firm , now for sale via their online store. german bar association May 2017 At the conference of the German Bar Association, Jaap Bosman joined a panel including Mark A. Cohen (Legal Mosaic), John Fernandez (Nextlaw Labs/Dentons), Jane Townsend (Allen & Overy), debating innovation in law. iba global entrepreneurship conference May 2017 Jaap Bosman contributed to the IBA Global Entrepreneurship Conference, in Paris. aba journal March 2017 Jaap Bosman is a regular contributor to the ABA Journal, magazine of the American Bar Association. It published his article What lawyers can learn from a dollar-store model , as part of their Legal Rebels series. harbour view March 2017 The Spring 2017 edition of Harbour View, a publication by Harbour Litigation Funding, celebrates their 10th anniversary. Jaap Bosman contributed with an article on the business of law. revue pratique March 2017 Revue Pratique de la Prospective et de l'Innovation, is a magazine for lawyers by LexisNexis and the National Bar Association of France. Jaap Bosman contributed with an article on the business of law. (In English ) affiches parisiennes March 2017 Affiches Parisiennes, the Parisian biweekly legal journal, devoted the cover article of their 7 March issue to the JINOV conference in Paris, including the keynote speech by Jaap Bosman. op. recht. mechelen. February 2017 Jaap Bosman will contributed as a key note speaker in a conference programme on Management of Justice, concluded by the Belgian Minister of Justice and organized by the city of Mechelen, Belgium. jinov paris February 2017 JINOV, Les Journées de l’innovation du Droit et du Chiffre, presented its second edition of the days of innovation in law and numbers in Paris. Jaap Bosman contributed as a keynote speaker at this event . survey January 2017 TGO Consulting and Advocatie (Sdu) together conducted a survey amongst lawyers regarding their preferences on savings and investments. For a summary of the results in English, click here . la lettre des juristes d'affaires December 2016 One of the leading publication for the legal market in France, La Lettre des Juristes d'Affaires (LJA), published an article on TGO Consulting partner mobility report. legal tribune online December 2016 Legal Tribune Online, a law magazine published by Wolters Kluwer Deutschland GmbH, wrote an article on TGO Consulting partner mobility report . european conference on legal access November 2016 The Association for Development of Legal Informatization, Juriconnexion and Le Droit Ouvert, together organised the 4th European conference on legal access (JEIJ), where Jaap Bosman contributed.

TGO Consulting - Award winning strategy consultants for the legal sector. Serving a global clientbase. Enhancing law firm profitability. what we do TGO Consulting are award winning business consultants focusing on the legal sector. We have a strong client base spanning most of Asia, Europe and the Americas. Our approach is fact based and result driven. We help our clients to maintain or improve their profitability. We work on the basis of a Financial Business Analysis© for which we have developed our own unique standardized model. This FBA© will highlight low hanging fruit and provide a benchmark against the market. Having decades of experience in the legal industry, we know the dynamics of partner groups inside out. During the process this will help overcome resistance and create buy-in. "everything must change for things to remain the same" - Guiseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa - Private Equity investment, the new normal for law firms? Partner Compensation reality Preferring Profits over People articles of interest about us If it comes to serving a global client base and experience in working in different jurisdictions across the world, TGO Consulting is second to none. While understanding your home market and culture, we bring a wealth of experience in best market practice around the world. We know the legal industry inside out, past, present and future. We know your competitors and we know your clients. we strongly focus on enhancing our clients’ profitability the power of truly offering global best practice our new book Right now the world is facing unprecedented challenges. The business of law no exception. A New Dawn helps lawyers navigate the crisis. Practical and easy to read, just what you need today. a new concept There is no linear relation between time and value. We created the Creation-Production-Divide Concept©, a revolutionary new way to explain where the value is. This concept will fundamentally change the business of law. we strongly believe being a lawyer is about human skills a human-centric approach Being lawyers ourselves and having gained almost two decades of experience in private practice and in-house, we understand the dynamics of the partner group like few others. Although we always focus on our clients’ financial performance, we are strongly aware that the business of law is a human business before anything else. Understanding peoples’ drivers and behaviours is key to achieving lasting results. power curve Succession remains a sensitive and complex topic. The TGO power curve© analysis immediately shows succession and leadership vulnerabilities in the firm. This is just one of our data-based models in use. in the press 1/1 Interview on legal technology in La Gazette du Palais 未来十年，律师事务所的五大趋势 Article on the future of the legal profession Feature article in ACC Docket on how to prioritize for inhouse lawyers

this page still functional but outdated - please visit our new homepage Reports TGO Consulting conducts research into aspects of the legal market worldwide and publishes reports that provide insights into both clients’ buying behaviour as well as the organisations of legal service providers. We collect and analyse market data, conduct in-depth interviews as well as quantitative surveys, whichever will be fit for the purpose at hand. We are currently, amongst other, working on a report on legal markets in Africa, as well as a report jointly with a Fortune top-10 company that will examine current and future tools in buying legal services. Partner mobility in the German market This is the first report that presents an in-depth analysis of lateral partner moves in the German market over a longer period of time. It covers the hiring activity of the 25 top-ranked law firms in the German legal market since the start of 2011. For the first time, it is revealed that the German lateral hiring market has evolved to reach an unprecedented high and that partners are shifting across the board. An analysis of the data provides an insight into the practice areas that are most concerned and which type of firms are hit the hardest by equity partners seeking opportunities elsewhere. In a sector where the hunt for talent is fierce and law firms are scrambling to shape themselves for the opportunities to come, top lawyers are simply in too high demand to be loyal. The results of this report can be seen as a sign of the times we can expect ahead. With Brexit on the horizon firms will jostle to position themselves in order to benefit from a shifting market. In an ever more competitive playing field the fittest will survive. A PDF version can be downloaded for free by clicking on the report. If you are interested in a complimentary hard copy please do not hesitate to request one here . Commoditisation of legal services Few of us have failed to notice how clients are changing the manner in which they purchase external legal services and their efforts in putting pressure on pricing. At the same time, law firms are reporting more or less business as usual. How can this be? TGO Consulting undertook a quantitative survey amongst lawyers aimed at canvassing to which extend there is a real downward pressure on the price of legal services. Senior lawyers from over a 100 business law firms across Europe were invited to participate on-line, on an anonymous basis. Further, 15 general counsel, or persons in charge of managing outside legal services, were interviewed face-to-face on the subject of commoditisation of legal services. All interviewees represent internationally operating companies that are large buyers of legal services. The results presented in this report are thought-provoking and we hope that our conclusions stimulate a further debate. A PDF version can be downloaded for free by clicking on the picture of the report on the left side of this text. If you are interested in a complimentary hard copy please do not hesitate to request one here .