Riverview and DMH unveil fixed-fee M&A service

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Shutkever: M&A clients want to know costs will not spiral out of control

The strategic alliance between Riverview Law and DMH Stallard has borne its first fruit, with the pair promising to handle mergers and acquisitions of any size on a fixed fee.

They claim that deals already carried out in the service’s pilot phase have resulted in clients paying on average 30% less than they would have done on a typical hourly rate charge.

After a consultation to assess the requirements of the deal, would-be clients will receive a fixed-fee proposal within 48 hours. The fee would only change if the parameters of the deal, as outlined at the initial meeting, “shift materially”.

If the deal fails to complete through no fault of the client, then they are charged half the fee.

Riverview Law’s chief operating officer, Adam Shutkever, argued that law firms have “long peddled” the “myth” that most legal work cannot be carried out on a fixed-fee basis. “Any law firm could make this proposition work with proper planning and resourcing,” he said.

Mr Shutkever said businesses going through the M&A process want “certainty of price and knowing that the ancillary costs of the transaction will not spiral out of control”.

Jonathan Grant, head of corporate at DMH Stallard, says: “The offer combines DMH Stallard’s long M&A heritage with the customer-centric approach pioneered by Riverview Law. It really does give clients an expert and timely legal solution at a far more realistic price. We’ve already carried out a number of fixed-priced M&A transactions for clients and so we have proven that it can be done.”

Riverview Law, which launched in early 2012, struck its alliance with south-east England firm DMH Stallard in May.