EY joins forces with Riverview Law

Accounting giant EY is buying legal services firm Riverview Law to boost its offering as a market ‘disruptor’.

EY Law comprises more than 2,200 law practitioners in member firms across 81 jurisdictions. Riverview, which uses bespoke technology to provide in-house legal teams with managed legal services, will be known as EY Riverview Law. The deal is due to complete on 31 August. Chris Price, EY global head of alliances—tax, will become CEO of EY Riverview Law.

According to EY, the acquisition will help organisations manage legal instructions, re-direct work that does not need legal input, triage work to the right team and manage all stages of work, including document creation.

Cornelius Grossmann, EY global law leader, said: ‘Legal managed services is one of the fastest growing segments of the legal market. This acquisition underlines the position of EY as a leading disruptor of legal services, it will provide a springboard for current EY legal managed services offerings and bolster the capabilities that we can help deliver for EY clients.

‘We recognise the expertise that Riverview Law has in this growing market area, which when married with the global EY footprint and legal understanding will help drive significant opportunities for EY clients.’

Karl Chapman, CEO of Riverview Law, said: ‘Becoming part of EY is a real strategic fit for our team and is in line with our commitment to deliver world-class service and counsel to Riverview Law clients who are at the core of everything we do. As part of EY, we will have even greater resources to help them drive business outputs from their legal inputs. Put simply, we are excited by the next stage in our journey.

‘We believe that the combination of the Riverview Law operating model, operating platform and people, alongside the EY brand, EY clients, existing legal services offering and global scale is a winning formula for the legal market.’