It has, to put it mildly, been an interesting year for the legal sector. The collapse of one of the world’s largest ‘law firms’ – Andersen Legal – and the end of self-regulation for lawyers in the US stand out as defining events. Then there has been Ashurst Morris Crisp’s eye-catching merger talks with Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, which look all the more tantalising given the absence of anything to suggest that Linklaters and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are any closer to that elusive New York merger.
And there has been the continued investment of the US firms into London and beyond into the rest of Europe. Some predicted that the US firms would lose their nerve in the wake of the toughest global market conditions for years. Instead a host of leading firms have been taking advantage of the uncertainty generated by the slowdown by snapping up firms and partners across Europe. Even the cautious Simpson Thacher & Bartlett got in on the act with its raid on Allen & Overy in London, while Jones Day Reavis & Pogue has managed to persuade the ultra profitable Gouldens to seriously consider a merger.
