Leading conveyancing firms favour organic growth over aquistiion

The bosses of two of the UK’s largest conveyancing firms, both backed by private equity, said yesterday that growth through acquisition was not high on their agendas. David Grossman, CEO of the Simplify Group - the largest conveyancer in the country - declared that future growth would “not necessarily” come from buying law firms. He described such a process as being “hard work” and instead favored organic expansion.

To this end, Mr Grossman revealed that since the pandemic began his company had recruited 72 experienced conveyancers without acquiring any law firm. Similarly, Nick Hale - group CEO at O'Neill Patient Solicitors (backed by Inflexion) also spoke out against buying smaller firms for market share purposes. 

Simon David (CEO of Thomas Legal, which is supported by BGF) suggested there may be some consolidation within the sector over coming years but opined it was unlikely to bring about "fundamental change". He went on to highlight how difficult it can be for law firms to develop proprietary technology without external investment - citing his own experience with Equilaw's automated remortgage service which took three years and £1m to establish properly. 

Viv Williams meanwhile argued that many small practices will fail over this period due to their inability or reluctance to invest in people and technology; suggesting offshoring opportunities should be taken into consideration for those wishing to remain competitive going forward. As he put it: "Firms that don't take advantage won't survive."