Legal Village

New contacts mean new contracts

Posted 11/04/2008 by Andrew Holroyd

Gold medals and sporting prowess aside (and notwithstanding the now-infamous columns of shellsuit-clad torch protectors marching through London), this year’s Olympics will surely be remembered by the business community for the symbolism of China’s ascent up the rostrum of world economies.

This eastward shift in the world economy to China and neighbouring India is changing the focus of the Law Society. Our international department has grown and so too has its presence and leverage in the key Asian markets.

At home, in February we celebrated the opening of Indian firm Fox Mandall Little’s first office in London at Chancery Lane and next month Des Hudson, our chief executive, will address visiting members of the All Chinese Lawyers Association in Manchester.

The rapid growth of the burgeoning Asian behemoths is in stark contrast to the sluggish growth of the US and, to a lesser extent, here in the UK. Yet while firms solely dependent on business across the Pond are understandably jittery, those with links to emerging markets are more confident and more resilient.

The international pages of Legal Week underline that globalisation is changing the shape of our profession. Only two years ago, fewer than 2,000 of our solicitors worked overseas. Today, the figure stands at over 4,000, spread across over 75 countries worldwide.

International opportunities are not restricted to large firms with most prestigious Lower Manhattan zip-codes. In fact, with more and more high street firms capitalising on the steady stream of cross-border litigation work, many are realising that it doesn’t even require a change of postcode.

Our new International Division is going from strength to strength and is helping firms network and win new business. Last year’s London launch was such a success that we followed it up last month with a launch in Dubai and we will be running events in Manchester and Leeds in June.

Another dimension of our international strategy that I’m particularly excited about is our trade missions, supported by the Foreign Office and UKTI, the Government’s trade and investment arm. Later this year we are taking firms to China, to Ukraine and a match-making event in Russia and to the West Coast of the US.

Last month I headed our first-ever trade mission to Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. By all accounts it was a great success and I’m sure new contacts will lead to new contracts.

The mission was timed to coincide with the Nigerian Bar Association’s (NBA's) Section on Business Law conference ‘Law and Development in a Globalised Economy’. Nigeria may be an investment destination of choice for many, but its legal market is still far from open and many of the NBA’s members are nervous, feeling that a strong dose of protectionism is essential for the health of their profession.

I was given the opportunity to speak at the conference and tackled the subject of globalisation head-on. I said that while I understood the strides they have made and that their profession has grown in both in size and sophistication, I still believe they can benefit from the experience and expertise of professionals from overseas – just as we (and London in particular) have done from the hundreds of foreign firms operating here.

I said that globalisation isn’t a zero-sum game. International firms benefit. Local firms and local lawyers benefit. And the local economy benefits. All are common beneficiaries of globalisation.

Our message went down well – and not only on the conference floor. I shared the platform with the Nigerian Attorney General, together with the frontrunner in the Ghanian Presidency elections, Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, both of whom supported what we are doing. Later in the week we secured a meeting with the Attorney General of Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial hub. He too recognised that Nigeria had everything to gain from becoming more open in its dealing with the rest of the world.

With so many potential markets, there is much work to be done. Whether it be Africa, Asia or South America, we will keep promoting our message to ensure we maximise opportunities for our lawyers abroad.