Smaller firms, meanwhile, increasingly regarded mergers as a way to protect their businesses against the emergence of new competitors under more relaxed ownership regulations, he said.

The transaction was made possible by the easing of ownership regulations that has allowed non-lawyers to buy shares in law firms for the first time.

New investors are flooding into the market because of looser ownership regulations, and significant advances in technology are also fuelling change in the once-staid industry, experts said.

Most media ownership regulations were eased, and the cap on radio station ownership was eliminated.