Magic Circle Firms After Brexit? Forum

[oobiedoobie]

Anyone have any input/forecasts/predictions on how the UK based firms in the US (A&O, Freshfields, Linklaters, etc.) will fare after what's been going on? Especially considering a lot of them heavily do transactional/banking/finance work

[PennBull]

our resident biglaw partner provided some insight

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 0#p9424660

[Anonymous User]

our resident biglaw partner provided some insight

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 0#p9424660

UK firms are going to be fine. There's plenty of Brexit-related work to go around and the Magic Circle feels very confident that everything will be hunky-dory. UK outposts of US firms that aren't core to the US firm's business in London may not be able to stay the course if the markets stay shaken for too long, but I would feel totally fine about coming to a Magic Circle firm at the moment (especially as an associate paid in pounds with a dollar-denominated salary) or one of the US firms that has a core London presence (i.e. not one of the newer US shops that's trying to make European inroads).

[Anonymous User]

our resident biglaw partner provided some insight

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 0#p9424660

UK firms are going to be fine. There's plenty of Brexit-related work to go around and the Magic Circle feels very confident that everything will be hunky-dory. UK outposts of US firms that aren't core to the US firm's business in London may not be able to stay the course if the markets stay shaken for too long, but I would feel totally fine about coming to a Magic Circle firm at the moment (especially as an associate paid in pounds with a dollar-denominated salary) or one of the US firms that has a core London presence (i.e. not one of the newer US shops that's trying to make European inroads).

The key here is that Magic Circle firms are not really UK firms, they are international firms whose primary offices are in the UK. But all of those firms already have large offices in Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam, which will probably expand if/when the bankers move to those locations. Plus, if you are a US lawyer in a Magic Circle firm, you are needed more than ever, particularly because firms can collect higher fees for US work, as opposed to UK trainee work, on a dispute or a transaction.

Also, not trying to dismiss the insight of someone who's in the thick of the business of law firms when we are all just cogs, but (a) why would a Belgian client go to Latham over Freshfields when Freshfields has triple the number of qualified Belgian lawyers in place to assist existing clients in moving their operations over, and (b) most US firms in the UK are doing some variation of capital markets work, which is definitely the one area that has slowed down, and will continue to slow down, in the UK.