Industry Analysis & Industry Trends
The past five years for the Legal Services industry have been challenging. The industry has declined due to pressures created by the global financial crisis. While profit margins have remained high, revenue has dropped due to declining demand for services resulting from fiscally conservative businesses implementing cost-cutting measures. As business confidence fell, so too did mergers and acquisitions and other transactional work. Large firms responded through restructuring and changes to remuneration, including wage freezes and the cancellation of bonuses. Additionally, the top firms have changed significantly to pursue global markets through mergers and relationships with international firms. Price pressures have mounted over the past five years, as competition remains high... purchase to read more
Industry Report - Industry Investment Chapter
The Legal Services industry is labour, knowledge and skills intensive, with labour costs expected to account for an estimated 38.7% of industry revenue. Lawyers require a high number of support staff for research, filing, documenting and ad hoc duties. The use of computer systems, legal databases and the internet has improved employee productivity, but technological advancements have not overcome the need for manual labour to deal with clients, research problems, design solutions, and overcome the significant amount of administrative tasks required to run a law firm. Most firms prefer to rent their premises, and spending on equipment is vastly overshadowed by labour costs.
Depreciation expense accounts for an estimated 1.2% share of revenue... purchase to read more