Law Firms

Most U.K. Law Firms Plan to Poach Rival Legal Groups

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Teams of lawyers are hopping from one U.K. law firm to another, and the trend appears likely to continue, according to a new survey.

Three-quarters of U.K. law firms said they would consider hiring legal groups from competing firms in the next year, Times Online reports. And 61 percent said they had already poached such teams in the last two years.

The results are from a survey of 96 law firms by U.K. accounting firm Smith & Williamson.

Giles Murphy, head of assurance and business services for the accounting firm, said the results are not surprising, given another survey finding that 75 percent of job-hopping legal teams become profitable within two years of the move.

“Acquiring an established team can be a relatively rapid way to achieve growth and can create fewer integration issues than mergers between firms,” he told Times Online.

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