Deloitte Legal announces significant expansion plan in landmark transaction with Kemp Little

• Deloitte Legal due to add 29 partners and up to 57 lawyers upon completion of landmark transaction; 
• Kemp Little’s leading commercial technology and digital media practices will significantly enhance Deloitte Legal’s offerings to clients.

Deloitte has today announced that it has signed an agreement that will, on completion, see the team from Kemp Little, a leading technology and digital media law firm, become part of Deloitte Legal, significantly enhancing the firm’s legal offerings to clients.

Founded in 1997 and headquartered in London, Kemp Little offers legal services in commercial technology, corporate, employment, data protection, disputes, IP and financial regulation across a range of sectors including financial services, telecoms, and media and digital solutions. Kemp Little also has a successful track record in developing award-winning LegalTech products that are aligned to its technology focus, including Dupe Killer, an AI-powered IP protection tool, and 4Corners, a contract analysis system.

The future combination of the two firms’ capabilities will significantly increase the number of lawyers and will see Deloitte Legal offer clients a much broader and deeper range of legal expertise to complement existing services in advisory, technology, legal management consultancy and legal managed services. Following completion, Deloitte Legal’s lawyer headcount in the UK will increase to more than 170, up from approximately 85 currently.

Richard Houston, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte North and South Europe, commented: “This transaction marks a key moment in the growth of Deloitte Legal. This demonstrates our confidence and willingness to invest where there is clear market demand. Bringing in the depth of talent in the Kemp Little team, from solicitors to technology specialists, will allow Deloitte Legal to offer clients a much broader range of legal expertise.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly shown that investment in technology will be a critical catalyst for the recovery of UK businesses. Business leaders are looking for more digital ways of operating, setting the stage for significant and longer-term cultural change. On completion, this transaction, with technology at its core, will ensure Deloitte Legal is well positioned to help businesses thrive as they transition to new ways of working.”

Andrew Joint, managing partner for Kemp Little, added: “This is an exciting time for Kemp Little as we build on our achievements over the last 23 years. Having already collaborated on a number of projects in the past, Deloitte Legal and Kemp Little have a track record of working together successfully. The team at Deloitte Legal is growing a unique and exciting combination of technology, consulting and legal advisory skills, and also benefits from the Deloitte network’s global scale. Kemp Little’s aim has always been to focus on delivering excellent technology and digital related legal services in a client focused way. We are all excited about joining forces with Deloitte Legal at completion to provide a very compelling offering in a market that has long been demanding greater innovation in the delivery of legal services.”

Michael Castle, managing partner for Deloitte Legal in the UK, concluded: “Today’s announcement is a milestone in the evolution of the delivery of legal solutions. Kemp Little is market-leading in the practice areas that Deloitte Legal has identified as being core to its offering. These areas are all synergistic with Deloitte’s wider business, meaning that we will be able to offer end-to-end professional services in areas like commercial technology and digital media.

“Kemp Little shares our goal of combining top quality legal expertise with leading capabilities in technology, consulting and scale delivery to provide the market with innovative solutions to complex legal challenges.

“The addition of Kemp Little’s lawyers and their experience of developing their own technology products will represent a significant change in the scale of our advisory practice, and will accelerate the development of our own technology-led legal offerings for clients.”

The completion of the transaction will see Deloitte Legal grow to more than 370 people in the UK, delivering technology-enabled legal solutions in areas such as employment, litigation, corporate, commercial, regulatory compliance and immigration. The news follows Deloitte Legal’s recent expansion of both its Legal Managed Services and Legal Management Consulting business, as well as the launch of Deloitte Legal Ventures.

Globally, Deloitte Legal currently has c.2,500 professionals operating in more than 80 countries.

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About Deloitte Legal
Deloitte Legal means the legal practices of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited member firms or their affiliates that provide legal services. In the UK, Deloitte Legal covers both legal advisory (regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority) and non-SRA regulated legal consulting services. For legal, regulatory and other reasons, not all member firms provide legal services.

About Deloitte
In this press release references to “Deloitte” are references to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (“DTTL”) a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity.

Please see deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of DTTL and its member firms.

Deloitte LLP is a subsidiary of Deloitte NSE LLP, which is a member firm of DTTL, and is among the UK's leading professional services firms.

The information contained in this press release is correct at the time of going to press.

For more information, please visit www.deloitte.co.uk

Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited

About Kemp Little LLP
Kemp Little is an award-winning technology and digital media legal services firm. The firm acts for leading organisations across the range of technology and communications industries and in sectors where technology transforms how business operates including financial services, media, travel, retail, professional services, healthcare and the public sector. Its clients range from the largest global public companies and organisations to early stage ventures with exciting new technologies. 

Kemp Little develops and operates LegalTech products that are aligned to its technology and focus. Dupe Killer is an AI tool focused on IP protection and counterfeit goods. 4Corners is an innovative LegalTech product offering a new approach to store, categorise, query and distribute legal analysis and information relating to contracts, winning the FT Innovative Lawyers Award in 2019.