Good discussion on the forum once again, concerning both traditional law firms and Fondia.
Compared to traditional “Espoo offices,” we at Fondia have a different focus from both the client and lawyer perspectives. As Fondia’s CEO, I am, of course, subjective, but I cannot agree with the idea that it would be difficult for us to compete with top firms. Our aim is not to engage in such head-to-head competition, but rather to find our own niche in the market.
From the clients’ perspective, our unique niche is most clearly found in continuously billed services (approximately 75% of Fondia’s revenue comes from our continuous client relationships), our lawyers with an average of 17 years of work experience (our experience pyramid is very different from traditional firms), and the utilization of Legal Tech (e.g., MyFondia’s functionalities for creating Legal Reviews and Legal Plans, which are at the core of our proactive legal services).
For employees, our different value proposition lies in the fact that we can offer a distinct lawyer role, which is something between a traditional external expert and an in-house lawyer. Our goal is to combine the best aspects of these job descriptions. I personally (subjectively) find our employer brand quite attractive when we aim to attract people with this focus. We have successfully recruited good professionals for our open positions.
I believe that the larger transformation trends in our industry favor modern legal service companies like Fondia. In this regard, I am following the discussion in Sweden with great interest. In August, PE investor Axcel acquired six traditional law firms in Sweden, employing a total of over 250 people. Since only lawyers can own law firms, the lawyers of these six firms resigned from the local bar association and now operate outside the bar association, similar to Fondia. This led to the creation of AGRD Partners, which in terms of size corresponds to Fondia in the Swedish market, meaning it belongs to the TOP10 legal firms and is the largest non-law firm on the list.
Fondia and AGRD Partners have a lot in common. The possibility of having non-lawyers as owners and on the board, investing differently in Legal Tech, etc. The most significant differentiating factor is that AGRD Partners is owned by a Private Equity investor, while Fondia is publicly listed on First North.
Behind the accompanying link (and likely a paywall) you’ll find Fondia’s fresh perspective on the interesting discussion currently taking place in Sweden. I’m eagerly awaiting to see what happens when, as a Finn, I try to advise Swedish lawyers in the article… 
What are your thoughts here on the forum? Will we see more modern legal service companies operating outside the bar association in Finland in the future?