Thsi article penned by? Richard Lloyd? for The American Lawyer is well worth a read – it sums up the effect and ensuing strategies taken by law firms on both sides of the Atlantic to ensure their continued existence..
Most of the article deals with the practices in the UK & US? but he does also mention the Asian legal market and suggests that the Chinese economy is going to help some practices but? for the vast majority of Global 100 firms, Asia is not a significant revenue generator.
He writes:
The recession may force firms to assess their presence in some markets, but no one is expecting the expansion that dominated the past ten years to unravel. “The globalization of the last few decades may have slowed, but I don’t see the trend now moving in a different direction,” says Shearman & Sterling senior partner Rohan Weerasinghe. Like Harris, he notes that for his firm, the impact of the downturn was blunted by the slow progression of the crisis from the United States to Europe and finally to Asia.
The same slow rollout is expected to mark the end of the downturn. A growing number of forecasts suggest that Asia will emerge first, led by China. Citigroup Inc. recently revised its estimate for economic growth in China from 8.2 percent to 8.7 percent for 2009, and from 8.8 percent to 9.8 percent for 2010. Linklaters’s Davies, who spent four years as managing partner of the firm’s Asia practice before becoming managing partner, predicts that Asia’s contribution to his firm’s top line will increase, driven by deals coming out of China and India. (Asia currently provides about 11 percent of Linkaters’s gross revenue.)
But for the vast majority of Global 100 firms, Asia is not a significant revenue generator. Of more importance is whether the U.S. or Europe rebounds first. Since the American economy has historically emerged first from global downturns, the American firms may have an advantage. In addition, the depth of the U.S. litigation market gives American practices a valuable cushion. Privately, Magic Circle managing partners look enviously at such firms as Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where 55 percent of gross revenue was derived from litigation last year.
Read the full article at?? http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/PubArticleTAL.jsp?id=1202433874460&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1
