Float or Flounder? Are Law Firms Right for IPOs?

One of the main reasons why IPOs have been so challenging for the legal industry is the existential tension between what has always been and what is to come. Partnerships look first to short-term profit and cash extraction, and then to investing for the future, which severely restricts the ability to grow the capital value of the business to any great extent. Equally, investors typically do not like the fact that the value in a law firm is almost all based in its people, including those outside of the lock-in. Despite this, six law firms have successfully floated and raised such a huge amount of cash that they could immediately pay out capital accounts, clear overdrafts and still have investment capital to spare...but, given what happened to accountancy firms floated in the 2000s, some law firm partners might have concerns. uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/...