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Norton Rose puts US high on agenda

The term "magic circle" is utterly meaningless. People who cling to such labels (read: hide behind past glory) will be relegated to the outer circle. The business of law is changing - maybe even more rapidly than firms realise or can effectively respond to. Employees don't buy the old self-love BS and clients certainly don't. Those firms that innovate, embrace technology and are not afraid to change and grow will succeed. Example from Japan: Linklaters is no powerhouse. Nor is Clifford Chance. Freshfields isn't top tier in this town. Slaughter & May is a non-entity. Cravath is less than zero. Sullivan & Cromwell a bare thread. Simpson, Thatcher ditto. Debevoise nadda. Skadden is here in numbers, but not making leaps and bounds. Latham & Watkins might still be here somewhere, hiding. The real winners in Japan are those firms, like MoFo that have a US heritage but have adapted their offering to suit the market and in doing so take the lion's share of marketshare among foreign firms. In sum, taking on new markets in Asia (where the real growth will be) is all about attitude and desire. If Norton Rose wants to be big in Asia it will be. If a US firm wants in on that action, then it would be a very sensible decision for them. Asia is there for the taking, and so far not many have shown that they know how to play the Asia game with any real finesse.

9-Sep-2009

1:26 pm