International - Working with foreign law firms

In recent years, against a background of increasing globalisation amongst UK law firms and concerns as to conflicts of interest, we have seen a significant rise in instructions from non-UK law firms.

Some of these are foreign law firms without a London presence, others have a London presence but are lacking an English law capability in certain areas. All of them are attracted not only by our reputation, experience and expertise but also by our independence.

We recognise the importance of delivering a seamless service so we work in a style which best suits the particular client. We are very experienced in working with foreign law firms, whether providing UK advice or co-ordinating advice in other jurisdictions, and we provide the same high standards whether we are handling the whole transaction or working on discrete aspects.

Our designated team of international partners ensures that:

• We choose firms based on the quality of the individuals, not just the reputation of the firms.
• Our relationships with those individuals are constantly strengthened through working, networking and socialising together.
• Under our long-established secondment programme, every year a number of our lawyers spend between 6 and 12 months at a foreign law firm. In return, a number of international lawyers spend time working across our firm and we host an annual week-long programme for senior associates from our relationship firms.