“As an independent law firm, if you can maintain a leading position in the market and still attract the most talented people, why change?” This rhetorical question, from Hengeler Mueller corporate partner Christof Jaeckle, is a declaration of independence. Adapt Thomas Jefferson’s graceful prose and it is a truth that many European lawyers at independent firms hold to be self-evident. Talk to those managing these firms and they will tell you simply: we are doing very well, thanks.
Jefferson’s 1776 declaration helped spark the American War of Independence. “The British are coming,” became a rallying call for colonial troops. By the 1990s, the same battle cry could be heard among corporate lawyers from Madrid to Milan to Munich.
