Positioning & Strategy

Strategy formulation at firm, practice and/or sector level

We assist law firms to address their most complex strategic and organisational issues, and to develop actionable responses. We support firms in making and executing high-impact decisions directed at building powerful market positions. We provide an independent and objective perspective, supported by incisive research and analysis, coupled with a wealth of experience based insights, thereby ensuring higher quality strategic decision-making, more powerful execution and superior results.

Strategic reviews; including new business models

The fast-changing nature and increasing maturity of the legal sector requires a dynamic approach to strategy formulation: permanent competitve advantage does not exist. Crucial questions such as “where to play”; “how to play” and “can we win?” need constant law firm leadership attention. At Venturis we feel that strategy design must allow for flexibility and be integrated in and aligned with annual business planning and focused client targeting. We support law firm leaders in understanding and reading trends and factors affecting performance and profitable growth and in identifying the truly unique strengths of the firm. Our strategic review and intelligence capabilities significantly enhance the quality of strategic thinking in a firm.

Alliances and referral strategies

We advise several international alliances which gives us a unique insight into and understanding of the strategic drivers for law firms to participate in such networks. We advise national, independent law firms on how they should best respond to the changing international competitive environment. We also advise such firms on developing and executing sound referral strategies in the light of ongoing consolidation, increasing national and international rivalry and the activities of new entrants.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Our partners have extensive experience with dozens of law firm mergers ranging from amongst the largest in the world to those involving firms of quite modest size. We have experience in the full range of such transactions from “peer-to-peer” mergers, to acquisitions / team hires, to office closures and/or divestments.

Our approach to identifying merger candidates is thorough, reaching far beyond superficial desktop studies. We assist with preparations for negotiations. We support negotiations acting either for one party or, preferably, as an independent go-between. Our broad experience enhances due diligence investigations and helps uncover issues that could cause post-merger difficulties. We also advise the newly created firm on developing a powerful joint strategy.

We design and facilitate the post-merger integration of systems for the combined firm. The broad, in-house experience that several of our partners have had in complex post-merger integrations in some of the world’s leading firms makes us uniquely able to advise clients on the alignment of all aspects of the legacy firms, to create a single, coherent business platform that delivers the best possible combined performance.

Market entry

We have an excellent track record in designing and executing market entries for law firms in the United States, the United Kingdom and, in particular, Europe. We understand the challenges involved in entering and setting up a successful operation in a new jurisdiction, having been on “both sides of the fence”. We advise clients on the strategic rationale for entering a particular market and develop the entry strategy that achieves the firm’s objectives and is aligned with the firm’s overall strategy. Similarly, most of our clients instruct us to identify potential merger candidates and execute the actual merger or acquisition.