Legal business isn’t exactly booming in Kansas City, Mo. “At this point, it’s pretty saturated. The market share is primarily going to come from each other,” said Pat Whalen, chairman of Spencer Fane Britt & Browne. “That means the competition’s going to be stepped up among all the big firms in town for that same slice of the pie.”
Whalen identified some hot spots. Real estate development picked up during the past year, and financial services during the past six months. Mergers and acquisitions heated up, as exemplified by Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli A.G.’s purchase of Russell Stover Candies Inc. “The valuations are so high on public companies, that’s increased the market value and attractiveness of the privately held corporations in our region,” Whalen said.
