LONDON, May 15, 2023 – Thomson Reuters (NYSE/TSX: TRI), a global content and technology company, today shared new research which shows that 24% of UK corporate buyers of legal services expect an increase in demand for advice on employment law as businesses have been forced to make redundancies and the cost-of-living crisis has led to high levels of industrial action. However, the economic slowdown and reduction in dealmaking means 28% of corporates expect a drop in demand for legal advice on M&A deals.
The UK State of the Legal Market report from Thomson Reuters shows that despite economic uncertainty, spending optimism amongst corporate law departments bounced back from the lows of Q3 (when Gilts and sterling tumbled) and grew in the last quarter of 2022. In Q3 2022 a net 2% said they planned on decreasing their legal spend. In Q4 2022, 35% of corporates said they expect an increase in legal spend, while only 26% expect a decrease. In comparison, in Q3 2022, more corporates expected lower spend going forward (34%) than higher spend (32%).
“As is typical with an economic slowdown, we are seeing demand peel away from practice areas such as finance and M&A that typically outperform when the economy is doing well.” said Lucinda Case, head of Legal Professionals Europe at Thomson Reuters.
“Corporates still require legal advice regardless of how the economy is performing. It’s the nature of the advice that changes. As rising inflation and interest rates force corporates...
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