Here’s a thought. Clifford Chance got a right royal drubbing for its decision to close the bulk of its West Coast practice, just two years after launching it.
But that mishap does not bear comparison, in terms of its strategic importance, with the failure of magic circle rivals Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters to secure mergers in New York. Both firms made no secret of this ambition and yet they have been forced to tear up this strategy in favour of a new one, that of building up their New York operations organically. This is a monumentally difficult task, being attempted decades after the emerging US national giants kicked off their on-going attempts to crack New York.
