BrazilLegal industry consultancy Venturis launches in Nordics
Venturis Consulting Group, a management consultancy serving law firms, has expanded into the Nordics, its fifth market in Europe.
Founded in 2005 in the Netherlands, Venturis Consulting Group is a management consulting firm dedicated to the legal sector. The firm’s team of advisors – most of which have a background at tier-one law firms – support clients with among others strategy and positioning, market entry, mergers and acquisitions, operational excellence and talent management.
The firm’s push into the Nordics is according to Gerard Tanja, an Amsterdam-based partner, based on a growing, changing and dynamic legal market in the region. “We are convinced the Nordic legal market will experience a lot of change in the next few years.”
According to data from Chambers, the value of the Nordic legal market is around $7 billion, up from roughly $6 billion five years ago. Sweden is Scandinavia’s largest market, followed by Denmark and Norway, the trio ranking markedly ahead of Finland in size. The industry is estimated to employ between 20,000 to 24,000 lawyers.
Similar to other markets, the industry is ripe for change, or even disruption in some segments. Pricing is under pressure from the growing number of independents and boutiques, as well as clients placing more scrutiny on their legal spend, while business models are under pressure from growing (international) competition and technology eroding previously stable revenue streams from routine activities. Meanwhile, new generations of talent have entire different perceptions of career progression and work-life, meaning that people models are also in a state of flux.
Tapped to head the new office, based in Stockholm, is Marion Ehmann, founder of kiMEru Coaching & Consulting. Previously, he was a lawyer with Clifford Chance in Dusseldorf and Vinge in Stockholm. “With Marion Ehmann we have a very experienced partner, well-established and who has seen ‘both sides of the table’. Her specific expertise in the area of legal design and legal project management is a very welcome addition to our current service offering,” said Tanja.
Ehmann will not have to build out the brand from scratch. In the past years, Venturis Consulting Group has advised on several law firm mergers in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, as well as conducted several strategic reviews, implemented restructuring projects and advised on governance reviews and profit and practice management systems, said Tanja.
Currently, the firm is executing “some market entry and merger projects in the region,” he added.
Last year, Venturis Consulting Group advised Italian law boutique Santa Maria Studio Legale with its merger with US-headquartered Greenberg Traurig. The addition of a Milan office took Greenberg Traurig’s European footprint to five, following previous office launches in London, Amsterdam, Berlin and Warsaw.
