For many Global 100 firms, offices in high-growth markets have been a useful hedge against slowdowns at home. But although the U.K. and particularly the U.S. have rebounded strongly from recession, there are now few emerging markets that aren’t blighted by some degree of uncertainty or malaise.
“It is quite difficult to get wildly optimistic about any international markets at the moment,” says former Clifford Chance global mnaging partner Tony Williams, now a law firm consultant at Jomati. “Firms are viewing these markets with a degree of uncertainty, and a lawyer’s initial response to uncertainty is to do nothing.”
