Why Is EY Willing to Invest $1 Billion to be Innovative?
Sports Illustrated used to have a column entitled Sure Signs the Apocalypse is Upon Us which included references to often bizarre and ironic events. It was a favorite of mine since it was a satirical poke at the seriousness we take sports and a display of the humor of everyday existence.
Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately depending on your perspective), the gradual and continual onslaught of the Big 4 accounting firms into traditional areas of legal practice and encroachment on law firm clientele seems destined to ultimately disrupt the practices of traditional law firms particularly at the mid-tier level. I have written about this before and while I and several others keep trying to suggest the Big 4 is coming, the message doesn’t seem to resonate.
Three posts in the last week perhaps reiterate this very point.
Why is an accounting firm acquiring an innovation firm unless they plan to do some serious innovating?
The first was an announcement by the Big 4 accounting firm, EY, its legal innovation subsidiary, EY RiverviewLaw, and Artificial Lawyer of a special event focused on legal operations, technology and innovation to help in house legal departments do more for less. As the organizers put it, “A light is now being shone on risks such as selecting the right software in rapidly evolving industries, along with ethical and legal issues associated with artificial intelligence being used as the primary basis for making legal decisions.” (By the way, EY RiverviewLaw was formed when EY acquired RiverviewLaw, a legal innovation firm. This fact in and of itself should give traditional law firms pause: why is an accounting firm acquiring an innovation firm unless they plan to do some serious innovating?)
The Big 4 is clearly