When we talk about the business of law around the world, we tend to focus on the giants. Next month The American Lawyer publishes our annual Global 100—the list of the top-grossing firms in the world. We recently announced the winners of our second annual Global Legal Awards, which highlight the best, and frequently the biggest, cross-border transactions and disputes. Capital knows no boundaries and law firms have organized themselves to facilitate its flow.
But big is only part of the global story. At last count, 112 of Am Law 200 firms have foreign offices, and 20 percent of the 200′s total head count work out of them. For all the talk about the global law firm, just 10 firms account for roughly two-thirds of the lawyers posted abroad. Eighty-eight of the Am Law 200 firms don’t have a single foreign office. Most don’t need one; there are opportunities closer to home to bleed money. But what they do need is a foreign policy.
