UK private equity market update 2025

Author Nikki Newton
February 12, 2025
Color image depicting a crowd of people, thrown into silhouette and therefore unrecognisable, walking alongside modern futuristic architecture of glass and steel. In the distance we can see the ancient and iconic dome of St Paul's cathedral, London

As we move into 2025, private equity (PE) firms are beginning to look at scaling up their legal functions. With deal flow accelerating, regulatory scrutiny increasing and AI reshaping due diligence and operations, legal teams in PE firms are playing a bigger role in driving value creation, mitigating risk and ensuring compliance across funds and portfolios.

What’s changing?

Firms are actively building out their in-house legal functions to manage rising transaction volumes, tighter deal timelines and complex cross-border regulations. GCs with M&A, fund structuring and regulatory expertise are in high demand.

More funds are prioritising legal hiring within their portfolio companies. Strong in-house counsel is becoming a must-have, helping drive governance, manage risk and support accelerated growth strategies.

Mid-market driving demand

Larger PE firms moving into founder-led businesses need legal teams that can implement governance from scratch, manage integration risks and ensure compliance across diverse portfolios.

AI, compliance and data privacy

As AI transforms PE, legal teams must oversee governance, IP and regulatory risks.

PE firms doubling down on sector-focused investment strategies need legal professionals with deep industry knowledge, particularly in healthcare, tech, FinTech, infrastructure and consumer markets.

Beyond just transaction support, legal teams are now integral to value creation, portfolio oversight, and long-term investment strategies. Strong legal infrastructure is becoming a competitive advantage in PE.

The trend is clear, legal hiring is no longer just about supporting transactions at the fund level. Private equity firms are investing in legal talent across their entire ecosystem, from GCs in-house to legal leadership in portfolio companies.

Taylor Root and the private equity market

Taylor Root, alongside the whole of The SR Group, has built up a very specific track record of working with private equity firms and portfolio companies to build out their legal teams. This includes building M&A related functions within insurance, consultancies and law firms, and supporting portfolio businesses with key individual and team hires.

If you’re looking to grow your legal team or explore new opportunities in the PE / Portfolio space, please feel free to reach out to me.

If you would like to join our PE and portfolio company GC network, get in touch here.

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