News round-up: LECG, Capco

Welcome to today's news round-up here on Consult THIS. In this edition, we span the distance of the human heart: while one consultancy approaches rock bottom, another ascends to the very highest of ancient peaks. Just another day in the life of a consulting news monkey.

First, we descend into the black heart of despair with LECG, which today announced that it inched ever-closer to complete dissolution by selling the majority of its European business to FTI Consulting. Readers of (devotees to) the news round-up will be familiar with that refrain; ever since LECG revealed the existence of a $30 million debt burden several months ago, the firm has been selling off practice groups to the highest bidders. So far, FTI and Grant Thornton have been the primary benefactors, each welcoming hundreds of LECG consultants and integrating entire practice groups into their organizations. Now, FTI will incorporate LECG's European economic consulting, forensic accounting and tax practice groups into their fold, leaving the broken consultancy to pick through its own rubble for valuable assets to sell. These practice groups must be going cheap. For one, FTI was originally hesitant to get involved; LECG likely dropped the asking prices dramatically in order to secure capital at any cost. Also, the firm has now sold off the vast majority of its assets, and they still don't add up to $30 million. Woof. So, to recap: LECG now has no international presence, complementing its utter lack of a North American presence. Or, in other words, it has no presence. Anywhere.

LECG certainly doesn’t have a presence in Capco's backyard which, at least in January of this year, extended to the treacherous slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya. The financial consulting firm announced today that 12 staff members from five different European countries successfully scaled the African giant on behalf of international development charity VSO, for which it raised £40,000. The "inspirational journey" took seven days to complete and saw the Capco consultants "venture through five different ecosystems, deal with the effects of altitude and sleep in freezing temperatures" en route to the summit. Upon reaching the apex, Capco UK consultant Orla Martin described "a wonderful sense of achievement." "Climbing Kilimanjaro with my colleagues from across Europe was one of the best experiences of my life," she said. "It was one of the most grueling challenges I have ever undertaken." While in Kenya, the intrepid consulting unit visited an Autism Society of Kenya work site to get a firsthand look at how VSO might put their funds to good use. VSO works in 44 countries internationally, where its primary ambition is to reduce extreme poverty.

For more information:
LECG Expects to Transition Certain European Practice Groups to FTI
Capco Kilimanjaro Challenge