360 Legal Group, which has over 700 UK law firm members, has joined forces with legal recruiters Jepson Holt Consulting to launch new venture 360 Jepson Holt.

The latter will offer what it claims to be the first comprehensive legal M&A support service, from pre-merger assessment and preparation for merger, through to post-merger integration.

360 Jepson Holt is targeting law firms with turnovers ranging from £600,000 to £160m.

The management team behind the venture includes Viv Williams, chief executive of 360 Legal, and Phil Jepson, who has 15 years’ experience as a solicitor, partner and equity partner in four law firms, in addition to ten years spent working with law firms to help them grow their businesses.

Said Jepson: ‘The trend is for firms of all shapes and sizes to be more open to growing through merger and acquisition - no one feels safe, however large they are. Merger and acquisition offers the possibility to make a step change in the growth of the business.’

Williams added: ‘Law firms need to change and grow to compete and survive and mergers and acquisitions can be a key part of that, provided it is done well.

‘There are some 10,980 solicitor practices in England and Wales with 86% of those having five partners or fewer. Many will be too small to compete in the modern market, especially post deregulation, while others have no idea of what to do and little value in their practice.

‘The market as a whole is too fragmented and needs to consolidate. Add to this the impending implementation of the Legal Services Act with external competition and capital and the formation of new structures; increasing regulation and compliance; rising professional indemnity costs and the poor state of the economy; and it is clear that a wave of consolidation is in order, which will not slow down for the foreseeable future.’