Heavyweights team up to drive private equity investment in law

Three heavyweights with experience of running some of the UK’s leading law firms have joined forces with a view to gearing up the private equity push.

Adil Taha, most recently the chief executive of Rosenblatt Law, has jointly launched consultancy service Taha & Co with Jonathan Watmough, the former managing partner of RPC. They are joined by Peter Jackson, for a long time the managing partner of Hill Dickinson, who joins as an external adviser.

The firm claims to be the first to be dedicated solely to advising private equity investors and law firms to get acquisition deals over the line.

Taha said he was aware of three potential deals that have fallen through in the past two weeks alone because the private equity house and law firm could not agree on a valuation.

He said the objective of the new venture was to transform the current landscape where only a fraction of deals are happening. ‘With a focus on bridging the gap between the two parties of the deal, we aim to leverage our insights and experience to drive successful transactions in this space, something that is not currently happening,’ said Taha, who also spent eight years in investment banking at Merrill Lynch and HSVC and joined a private equity house in 2019.

Taha said the aim will be to demystify the legal market for private equity and source and assess potential law firm investments. Equally, the consultancy will work with law firms to attract private equity interest and negotiate terms with preferred bidders.

Private equity has become an increasing influence in the sector, with the likes of Fletchers, DWF and Stowe Family Law all acquired by investors. Private equity investor Blixt has also created the Lawfront network and gone about buying firms in different regions to operate under their own brand but with external funding.

According to the UK Legal Services Market Report published by IRN in March, 25% of all legal mergers and acquisitions last year involved either new investments by private equity businesses or private equity-backed law firms. Merger specialist Acquira Professional Services estimated that £1.2bn had been invested into the legal sector in the previous five years, including a record £534m in 2024.