Legal Services Market Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Legal Services Global Industry Outlook

In 2016, the global legal industry was valued approximately at $645 billion, and it is expected to grow at approximately3–4 percentto reach around $670billion in 2017.

BREXIT Impact on Sourcing Legal Services

Impact Area: Law Firms Providing Employment as a Practice Area and Legal Service Buyers Operating in the U.K.

• The UK's decision to leave the EU is likely to have a significant impact on employment law practice. If the U.K. agrees to negotiate a bespoke relationship, the government would be at liberty to depart from EU employment law by repealing and amending legislation and the decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) will not be binding in U.K. courts.
• This change will result in a lot of legal and commercial activity and a surge in demand for employment lawyers in light of expected renegotiations of contracts. One of the main tasks for lawyers in this transitional phase will be to examine current employment contracts and terminate those that are no longer valid

Legal Services Global Market Maturity 

The maturity of legal service providers in North America and Europe is high, as they command the highest market share. More than 60 percent of the legal spend is concentrated in the developed legal markets of North America and Europe. The APAC region has the highest potential for growth, with many global legal service providers entering the fray.

Legal Services Global Drivers and Constraints

Increasing demand for transactional practice areas, like corporate work, real estate and tax work, is driving the demand for legal services. There is a mounting pressure to adopt AFAs and usher in transparency to billing models. These are some major challenges hampering the industry.

• Law firms (outside counsel)
• Sufficient recovery from the recession and Eurozone crisis has acted as a catalyst in improving the demand scenario for legal services.
• Increasing demand for transactional practice areas, like corporate work, real estate, and tax work, is driving the demand for legal services.
• Increasing demand from the emerging markets, like the APAC region and the Middle East, has also been driving the demand for legal services. LPO
• Cost reduction and the need for better utilization of internal legal staff for strategic services have led to more work being outsourced to LPO units in low-cost destinations.
• Favourable government policies, measures taken to liberalize and deregulate policies, reduced licensing requirements and the prospective removal of restrictions on Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) are driving the need for work to be outsourced to low-cost offshore destinations.

Law firms (outside counsel)
Mounting pressure to adopt alternative fees to bring transparency to billing models is acting as a constraint in the legal service industry.
Increased budgetary pressure to reduce outside counsel spending acts as a deterrent.