The importance of US clients and lawyers is well understood by UK commercial law firms and there are few that do not have American clients or regular dealings with US lawyers. While the US has only 5% of the world’s population, it has 70% of its lawyers.
However, there is a great deal of evidence that the ‘special relationship’, much trumpeted in recent weeks, is not always reflected in the way that the British interact with Americans. The trouble with having a shared language is that it often means such distinctions are overlooked; there are some linguistic differences too, although these are relatively easily understood and overcome.
