{"id":116740,"date":"2026-02-24T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T16:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taylorroot.com\/?p=116740"},"modified":"2026-06-04T12:40:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T12:40:28","slug":"professional-services-inhouse-legal-market-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/srgroup.highrise.digital\/nl\/market-insight\/professional-services-inhouse-legal-market-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Why private equity investment into professional services is reshaping in\u2011house legal growth in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Hiring across legal teams in professional services<\/a> accelerated through 2025, and early signs suggest that momentum is continuing into 2026. A central driver is the rise of private equity (PE) investment into legal, consulting and accounting platforms, which is changing how organisations scale, modernise and manage risk. Rather than viewing legal and advisory as static support, we’re finding that sponsors are viewing them as operationally leveraged businesses with clear routes to consolidation and technology\u2011led value creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market coverage from 2025 shows that professional\u2011services M&A remained resilient<\/a> and is expected to remain active into 2026, as investors prioritise scalable, high\u2011margin service platforms. This is echoed in KPMG\u2019s UK mid\u2011market snapshot<\/a>, which points to improving deal flow, helped by stronger debt\u2011market liquidity and easing inflation – conditions that typically underpin buy\u2011and\u2011build strategies in fragmented services sectors. Together, these dynamics are encouraging firms to organise around scalable service lines, robust governance and deeper digital capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the capital side, UK\u2011based private funds held around \u00a3190bn of deployable \u201cdry powder\u201d at end\u20112024<\/a>, signalling substantial capacity for investment over the next three to five years. Confidence among sponsors is similarly reflected in sentiment surveys, with two\u2011thirds of PE leaders expecting to increase deployment, and consultancy ranked among the top UK priority sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accounting market offers a clear illustration of this shift. A Kingsley Napley survey<\/a> reported that 86% of the UK\u2019s top 60 firms were approached by PE or external investors in 2024, with nearly half open to investment. Landmark transactions, such as Cinven\u2019s strategic investment in Grant Thornton UK<\/a> underscore the shift, illustrating how external capital is accelerating modernisation and scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop, hiring across in\u2011house legal teams<\/a> has stepped up – not as an administrative reaction, but as a strategic response. As organisations grow through transformation and acquisition, the need for embedded, commercially attuned legal capability becomes integral to delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n