Axiom has made the difficult decision to forego short-term revenue from its two spin-offs in order to pursue a targeted, longer-term path to success. Instead of cancelling Axiom, other providers might be wise to embark on a similar differentiation journey in a maturing global legal market. The move comes as BT this week hired former Sky chief legal adviser Bruce Breckenridge, who joins the GC for competition and regulation. EY`s global law firm employs 1500 lawyers in 67 countries with legal teams in Mexico, Costa Rica, Singapore, China, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. The most important legal services are corporate trade, employment, financial services, and mergers and acquisitions/transactions. Find the right legal talent. Get more control over your career. He has traditionally organized high-level assignments for in-house legal teams, outsourcing contracts and large ad hoc projects. However, the company is increasingly promoting its contract analysis capabilities, and Paul Carr, New York`s chief operating officer, previously told Legal Business: “A company`s contractual relationship is a really important interface that defines the risk, the brand and the ease with which it is possible to do business with them. The reason we are focusing heavily on this issue is that we think it is a really underserved area. As part of its recent high-profile outsourcing deal with BT, Axiom, arguably the most touted alternative legal services provider, will strengthen its management team with the hiring of Nick West, Director of Legal Markets at LexisNexis, while incumbent Al Giles will take a leadership role as Executive Vice President and Head of Regional Markets. An innovator who has long been at the forefront of transforming the traditional in-house legal function, BT entered into a three-year agreement with Axiom in February to provide the telecom giant with legal outsourcing and analysis services in the UK, US, Africa, Middle East and Asia, replacing and renewing a contract previously held by legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider UnitedLex. The lack of billing goals and professional hierarchies is also important for our unique place in the market.
In the absence of partners or the obligation to meet billable hourly targets, Axiom`s lawyers are free to focus entirely on providing high-quality, technology-driven legal advice. Axiom`s decision to divest itself of its other businesses and go public with a core offering makes sense as an IPO strategy. Its two thriving spin-offs can each scale and focus on their core offerings, allowing Axiom to do the same. It`s also smart from a competitive point of view. Axiom has taken a close look at the existential mirror and concluded that it will not directly compete with EY, Deloitte, PwC, KPMG, UnitedLex and Allen & Overy for the corporate legal services business. Instead, it will focus on overall legal talent management, which will undoubtedly include both lawyers and other lawyers. A 2012 New York Times article covering the legal landscape after the financial crisis concluded that “a broader transformation may be imminent. And this can look a lot like the law axiom. Axiom had 900 lawyers, a number of impressive corporate clients, and a new organizational and economic model that fit well with the austerity policies of the time. Mark Harris, the founder of Axiom, noted that “the interests of law firms are shifting from client service to self-service.” Legal consumers didn`t care if Axiom was a law firm or a talented law firm. For Axiom, this was important because: (1) as a talent company, it was not subject to capital investment restrictions affecting law firms; (2) Management and high-performing lawyers/specialists could acquire (residual) equity in the company; and (3) the transfer of risk from Axiom to the customer provided an additional cost advantage over the companies that retain the risk.
Chris DeConti, Global Head of Banking at Axiom, said: “Axiom is delighted to partner with Ashurst as the first partner in a new model of working with law firms to provide our clients with a comprehensive solution that includes world-class legal advice and legal enforcement capabilities. We look forward to announcing more partners in the future. The company was founded in 2000, originally following the model of offering high-level legal “replacements,” and achieved reported sales of $360 million in the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The company employs more than 2,000 people on three continents. On the occasion of the 365-day countdown to Brexit, alternative legal services provider Axiom today (29. March) has launched a service specifically designed to help businesses review millions of financial services contracts as pressure to update paperwork mounts with the UK`s imminent exit from the EU. Not so long ago, Axiom was often presented as the next big thing in the law. Founded in 2000, the on-demand legal talent firm has spent nearly two decades growing sales, customer base, talent pool and brand awareness. Still, the industry spotlight that has long focused on Axiom has shifted to other legal service providers in recent years, especially The Big Four, United Lex, and Elevate. This has led many in the industry to ask, “What`s wrong with Axiom?” Axiom has parted ways with its technology and managed services businesses, but it hasn`t gotten cold on technology, far from it. Al Giles, Chief Revenue Officer of the London-based company, gave a presentation to Legal Geek last October on innovations and modernization of the legal industry who indicated Axiom`s leadership.
Giles` remarks made it clear that technology is a crucial addition to any organized legal talent pool (which uses data to map legal talent to the task). That`s what Axiom is after its spin-offs – a 21st century talent market. “I never thought that external suppliers could work with us so efficiently and transparently and be part of the legal team.” Commenting on the launch, Philip Goodstone, Head of Law at EY in the UK, said: “As we continue to grow our legal services team, we remain focused on finding the best talent, regardless of their geographical location. Aaron brings a wealth of experience to this role and will be a real asset to our clients across the UK. The decision to expand its legal services team across the UK came after the accounting giant obtained an Alternative Business Structures (ABS) licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority in December 2014 to provide “integrated and multidisciplinary” legal services in England and Wales. One way to understand Axiom`s recent steps is to examine its roots. When Axiom was launched in 2000, he sought to create a new model for on-demand talent in corporate law. Mark Harris, founder and longtime CEO of Axiom, has often said that Axiom was founded to attract disgruntled and overwhelmed clients and improve the lives of many lawyers who have worked for them.
Harris, a lawyer who became an entrepreneur, drew on his personal experience as a partner at Davis Polk. He saw an opportunity to reshape legal counsel by changing its structure, business model and culture to better serve clients and lawyers. Harris acknowledged the growing gap between law firm lawyers and equity partners, as well as firms and clients. He created a law firm – not a law firm – to address both. In 2014, BT selected Axiom for its global legal outsourcing and analysis for a three-year contract, with Axiom tasked with executing 30 to 50 instructions per day in Europe, the US/Canada and the APAC region, ranging from simple work such as non-disclosure agreements and initial contract increases in tenders to more demanding work such as end-to-end negotiations of services and product and service agreements. The conviction of buyers, especially the conservative attorney general, was a higher obstacle, especially when Axiom began at the turn of the millennium.