At the turn of the century, the conventional wisdom was that commercial lawyers would be practising out of one of two structures: either multinational mega-firms – mostly headquartered in the UK or the US – or highly specialised local boutiques. Fast forward seven years and it is evident across Europe that the demise of the independent law firm was somewhat exaggerated. At the end of 2007, independent law firms are the most confident they have been in years.
So much so, in fact, that the number of lawyers looking to join their ranks has increased substantially and most of the major European jurisdictions have seen new independent firms set up, spin off or merge in the past two or three years, challenging the hegemony of the multinational, Anglo-Saxon model. Recent months have seen a welter of new firms striking out on their own, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer breakaways Greenfort in Germany and Oppenheim in Hungary, and most recently the resurrection of the Oppenhoff name by former Linklaters partners in Cologne.
