Services

Professional Practices

Deloitte is the leading firm of advisors to the UK and global Professional Practices sector. Together with our market-leading position in our key service offerings of partnership tax and audit, we have a unique depth and breadth of skills to help you navigate this complex environment and our ability to advise is informed by our experience of execution.

We regularly advise professional services businesses on the following:

  • Implications of the incorporation of limited liability partnerships
  • Turnaround, restructuring and refinancing support
  • Corporate, personal and partnership tax and planning
  • Mergers and acquisitions
  • Pre and post transaction due diligence
  • Strategy
  • Financial management including cash flow optimisation and refinancing
  • Finance transformation and strategy
  • Property portfolio planning
  • Cyber security planning

We would be delighted to discuss your opportunities and challenges and how we may be able to help. 

What's current in the Professional Practices market?

The Professional Practices market is currently undergoing major structural changes, particularly within the legal market. Clients are demanding more for less and many legal services firms are responding with an acute focus on operational efficiency – maximising opportunities while lowering costs. The trickle of firms embracing legal and business process outsourcing has grown steadily in the last couple of years. New players - such as consumer businesses and insurance companies are entering the market.  The Legal Services Act has introduced new opportunities for raising capital, which is resulting in fundamental changes to the business model for many firms. Those that want to succeed must carefully consider their strategy, structure and investment and make an informed choice about its future direction.

Firms must also maintain a healthy client base and differentiate their services from the competition – both to win work, be attractive to the best talent and to deliver strong profitability. Mergers are one vehicle to achieving this and there have been many UK and international mergers lately, as firms seek to improve their national and global position and to benefit from increases in scale. Finding the right strategic partner is paramount but so too is the transaction execution if the potential benefits are to be fully realised.

Risk and regulatory pressures remain high. Compliance, adverse events, IT and data security are all major challenges for law firms, especially in an environment of collaborating with business partners through outsourcing models.

Key Contacts

David Carter

David Carter

Partner

David is a Tax Partner in Deloitte’s London Professional Practices group, specialising in partnership taxation and has worked in this sector for over 20 years. David’s current portfolio includes 6 of ... More

Jeremy Black

Jeremy Black

Partner

Jeremy is a partner in Deloitte’s Professional Practices group where he has worked for over 20. He provides firms with advice in a range of areas including strategy, mergers, remuneration, financing, ... More

Karen McNicholls

Karen McNicholls

Partner

Karen is a Tax Partner in the UK’s London office. She leads the London Private Markets Tax group. Karen advises international professional services businesses on their structures and transactions. She... More

Oliver Hemming

Oliver Hemming

Partner

Oliver is a Partner at Monitor Deloitte, leading the Business and Professional Services sector advising private equity and corporate clients. For his clients he undertakes strategy reviews developing ... More

Chris Donovan

Chris Donovan

Partner

Chris is a Partner in the Deloitte Financial Advisory business and is based in London, where he leads the Private Equity Portfolio team. This cross-discipline team is dedicated to supporting Private E... More