Former DLA Piper Lawyer Compares Big Law to Mid-Law Efficiencies

Mid-tier law firms are positioned to offer superior value to a broad spectrum of corporate clients while also delivering higher compensation to their employees a former DLA Piper top lawyer has said in an Australian Financial Review article.

Grant Koch, who previously served as the co-leader of the private equity sector at DLA Piper based in London, criticized large firms for their “excessive expenditures on unnecessary items,” which he believes elevate costs for clients and suppress income for both staff and partners.

Many of the larger law firms in the world continue their global expansion as they compete for major work and work to increase their international footprint.

Koch is now a partner at Australian law firm Mills Oakley, argues that reducing waste leads to more lucrative practices.

He maintains that allocating firm resources effectively can result in significant rewards for staff through bonuses and, for partners, substantial profits, especially for those who are entrepreneurial and adept at generating new business.

Koch’s move to Mills Oakley has expanded the partnership to 155 members, up from eight in 2004, positioning it alongside Allens as the seventh-largest law partnership in the country.

Challenges To Traditional Partnerships

Koch emphasizes that established partnerships must adopt business-like operations with efficient processes to “cut down on waste” and stave off challenges from emerging firms that deviate from traditional partnership models.

He anticipates that several leading firms will need to downsize in the upcoming years due to competitive pressures, which will also necessitate partners to intensify efforts to boost revenue and profits.

In the context of Australia’s densely populated legal market, Koch notes the diminishing impact of international firms over the past decade. He suggests that maintaining independence while forming international alliances has been more successful than full integration with a global partner, a strategy many top Australian firms pursued in the early 2010s.

The challenges of integrating into a global firm, such as a lack of local insight, complex reporting processes, and distance from key decision-makers, have hindered such firms from becoming dominant players in Australia, according to Koch.

He advocates for a highly personalized approach to understanding client needs and the competitive landscape. The growth in partner interaction also leads to greater client satisfaction compared to the situation with many big law firms.

The AFR reports that Mills Oakley’s corporate advisory group is experiencing growth, with five partners added last year alone and predicted growth in the mid-cap sector, despite slowing growth at the higher end of the market.

Mills Oakley’s strategic hiring and streamlined operations underscore the evolving landscape of legal services, where mid-tier firms are increasingly competitive against their larger counterparts.