SYKE, a legal technology consultancy, which became part of the LOD Group over two years ago, is also to be included in the deal.

The acquisition will, Consilio noted in a statement, amplify its global presence and extend its enterprise legal services business to Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia, while also expanding its current operations in the United Kingdom.

The statement also noted that – following completion of the deal – Bowmark Capital, a UK-based private equity firm, will realise its five-year investment in LOD and SYKE. Those years have, the statement said, been “defined by considerable growth”.

LOD was founded back in 2007 and, since then, has amassed over 4,500 legal practitioners who offer on-demand services for clients’ needs across 25 different countries.

The acquisition follows LOD’s acquisition of AdventBalance back in October 2016. More recently, LOD launched SYKE in Australia in November 2021, and in September 2022, LOD and SYKE expanded into the US.

According to Consilio chief executive Andy Macdonald, the flexible talent market “remains fragmented”, and the provider “continue[s] to explore opportunities to create impactful solutions for legal teams as they face an unprecedented amount of talent concerns, as a result of historically high attrition rates, budgetary freezes, and legal industry salary increases out of reach for many corporations”.

“This acquisition brings LOD’s and SYKE’s deep expertise in flexible legal talent and legal technology consulting onboard while unlocking greater scale and capabilities for our clients,” he proclaimed.

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LOD founder Simon Harper reflected that Consilio has a “great story”, in that it “has a history of bringing very strategic acquisitions into its fold to become the global leader in legal consulting and services, as well as the world’s largest eDiscovery provider”.

“We’re excited about our shared culture and the vision for what we can offer together to global legal teams,” he noted.

“I’ve watched the growth of Consilio’s enterprise legal services business over recent years and look forward to combining forces to reflect client needs and to establish one of the largest legal flexible talent and advisory companies in the space.”

Consilio senior vice-president of enterprise legal services Robb Hern added: “As we have been strategically ramping up our global enterprise legal services offerings, our clients are asking us to serve them on a global basis more and more every day.”

“The similarities between our companies in terms of culture, commitment to employee experience and client experience, and operational excellence have been remarkable.

“Consilio clients will immediately benefit from the in-market expertise LOD and SYKE can offer combined with our existing global enterprise offerings.”

Alvarez & Marsal has acted as Consilio’s financial and tax due diligence adviser on the deal, while Jones Day served as legal adviser and William Blair & Company as financial adviser. Rothschild served as financial adviser for LOD, and Stephenson Harwood provided legal advice to LOD and SYKE.

Late last year, LOD head of business operations Anita Thomspon spoke to Lawyers Weekly about whether consulting is now the “third career path for lawyers”.

Two months ago, LOD head of market insights Mark Dodd and senior legal counsel Helena Kolenbet appeared on The Corporate Counsel Show to discuss how best law departments can manage cost-cutting environments.