Seven Years Later: Time for a new consultancy

Seven years ago, I launched Passmore Consulting. I talked about how three drivers were changing the legal market: regulatory reform, technology, and pressure from clients. Back then, I was focused predominantly on the UK – and made the point that while we were in the middle of a revolution, such industrial revolutions usually take decades. Seven years on, everything has changed, and nothing has changed.

I closed Passmore Consulting in the Autumn of 2024 to explore cooperation with a wider group of ethics and regulatory lawyers in the UK and US. It’s been a fun year – I have worked closely with amazing colleagues at Kingsley Napley, the leading regulatory law firm in the UK, and similarly in the US with ethics lawyers such as Lucian Pera at Adams & Reese.

Back in 2019, I first repurposed Hemingway’s line about how a character in a novel went bankrupt (gradually, then suddenly). I was making the point that we are surrounded by the relentless noise of change – it often feels like there is more change than ever before, that it is faster and more relentless. But I am not sure that is correct. The art of leading a law firm is to find the signal: identifying what is really changing and what is driving that, and, most importantly, determining the right strategic response.

The last few years have shown me that back in 2018, I didn’t give appropriate weight to a key driver of change: capital. In the UK and US, it is starting to reshape the legal market. We are moving away from law firm partnerships that distribute their balance sheet to zero each year-end and toward law firms that can take a long view. They are investing in technology, in M&A, and in talent acquisition and retention. The longer-term view that investors can bring, compared to law firm partners with a year-end, cash focus, is allowing some firms to separate themselves from the pack.

Investor-backed firms can grow rapidly, invest in the future, and focus on capital growth rather than annual profit distribution. I believe 2025 is the year this became mainstream among law firm leaders in the US. 2026 is likely to be the year everyone notices.

In England & Wales, Alternative Business Structures (ABSs) are now routine. Of course, commercial activity brings risks, but there are an increasingly wide variety of investor-backed law firms looking to grow by doing more of what their clients want. And in the US, since I launched back in 2018, not only has Arizona launched an ABS program, but other models have emerged to facilitate external investment. I am proud to support several of these (e.g. Alpine/Rimon, KPMG, Elevate, Axiom, Rocket Lawyer, Legal Zoom, Eudia, and more). Much of the legal market looks the same, but there are strong currents of change, and it is great to be at the heart of that.

This is why it is time for a new consultancy. One that can support clients, lawyers, law firms, and investors around the globe. Its mission is to help them navigate regulatory boundaries and restrictions to fulfil their ambition. It will allow lawyers to focus on justice, risk management, and the rule of law while investors help them grow their business to meet the needs of more clients in new ways. It will support investors to help law firms grow while allowing lawyers to do more lawyering.

Change has been happening gradually. It may be about to happen suddenly.