The firm’s UK legal head says that companies are seeking legal support in various corporate areas
The demand for NewLaw services has been ticking up steadily for PwC UK, according to the Law Society Gazette.
Companies are increasingly looking to bolster their legal functions in terms of cost efficiency and value, said head of legal Teresa Owusu-Adjei.
“This resulted in rising and sustained demand across all of our NewLaw services, including legal function transformation, managed legal services, legaltech integration, contract review and remediation, and company secretarial and governance services,” she explained in a statement published by the Gazette.
Owusu-Adjei added that businesses are also increasingly seeking legal support in various areas of corporate, including restructurings. Moreover, companies are on the lookout for strategic advice on the legal aspects of deals in line with the “the deals-led recovery driving activity” across PwC UK.
This follows the firm’s recent report that it had logged a 25% bump in group profit over the past financial year, hitting £1.17bn. In the tax division, which covers the legal services arm, the revenue reported came in at £1.07bn – a strong figure given that other Magic Circle firms have recorded profits of £716m–£822m.
With regard to the global revenues of law firms, DLA Piper tops the list at £2.17bn.
PwC UK named Owusu-Adjei, who was previously a financial services partner, to the position of legal head earlier this year to reflect its commitment to strengthening its legal arm.
“Our legal network and business is an important area of growth for PwC. As we expand our focus on alternative delivery models for legal services, there is significant opportunity for us to support our clients with innovative legal solutions,” PwC tax head Marissa Thomas said. “We have seen particularly strong demand for innovation in the provision of legal services from our financial services clients and so we are taking this opportunity to align the leadership of our legal business with an experienced partner from our financial services practice.”
PwC launched its NewLaw offering in Australia in 2019.
