Lyceum Capital is posing law firms the £50m question, as the market gears up for the next stage of the Legal Services Act (LSA).

The private equity house – the first financier to openly target legal service investments – has been informally asking firms, understood to include some within the UK top 20, what they would do with an investment of this size.

The most popular responses include using the money to invest in IT and systems and putting it towards acquisitions and international expansion.

Lyceum's managing partner, Jeremy Hand (pictured), said: "If you ask law firms what they would use a big chunk of money for, it puzzles some and excites others. A growing number are talking about external investment as a way of accelerating growth, improving services and reducing costs."

The news comes as the College of Law's Legal Services Policy Institute (LSPI) think tank held its first meeting this week to discuss external investment in law firms ahead of Alternative Business Structures (ABS), which are set to come into force in 2011.

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