European firms spearhead global collaboration initiatives

In these days of increasing globalisation ways to retain your independence while boosting your appeal to international clients are key.

And a number of European firms are engaging in innovative initiatives to work better with and for their clients and with firms in other jurisdictions.

Back in 2012 a quartet of large European independent firms – Chiomenti, Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira, Gide Loyrette Nouel and Gleiss Lutz – created a non-exclusive alliance to work more closely together. This year that has taken a new turn with the four teaming up to launch a European regulatory hub, based in Frankfurt, aimed at developing closer interaction with banking regulators.

The European Central Bank is headquartered in Frankfurt and that is the hub’s main target, but it will also act as a place for lawyers to share and deepen their knowledge.

Meanwhile a number of smaller European firms, including French firm Bersay Associés, Hungarian firm Várnai & Partners, Malaysian firm Azmi & Associates, Portuguese firm Sérvulo & Associados and Spanish firm Rousaud Costas Duran, have joined a new global alliance led by Beijing-based boutique firm Kejie Law Office.

Cathay Associates will focus on acting for Chinese companies to connect China to the rest of the world.

Initiatives such as these will be the focus of The Lawyer’s first Global Collaboration Summit, to be held in London on 9-10 March alongside The Lawyer European Awards 2016. The awards entry deadline is Wednesday 18 November – click here for more information or to register your interest for the summit. We also unveiled the list of judges for the awards this week.

Also on TheLawyer.com:

• US firm Goodwin Procter is opening its first office in mainland Europe, hiring four Ashurst partners to launch its Frankfurt base
• Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Kirkland & Ellis are the latest firms to have won top roles on brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev’s £71bn purchase of SABMiller, advising on the latter’s $12bn (£7bn) divestment in the MillerCoors joint venture
• A quintet of US and Dutch firms are acting on the initial public offering of Dutch bank ABN AMRO, which is set to be Europe’s largest bank listing since the 2008 financial crisis
• All the latest partner hires and other appointments within Continental European firms and offices