INSEAD alumnus Lachlan McKnight founded a company in Australia in 2012 to disrupt the legal services industry through digitally-enabled and delivered services supported by a proprietary IT system and search engine optimization. The case traces the journey through 2021, when he decides to build up the subscription business model side of the enterprise.

Axiom, an innovative player providing legal services to corporates, develops service lines to provide lawyers on secondment to clients and managed services to outsource part of its clients' legal activities. Axiom's growth is placed in the broader context of changing client needs and competition in the corporate legal market.

This case documents two critical changes in a major law firm: the merger of two law firms into one and the globalisation of the merged firm. The merger was generally viewed as successful and the integration process is described. The second goal of globalisation is steadily proceeding but represents a larger cultural and strategic challenge.

Please refer to part A for the abstract.