Staying on top – inside the 10 firms aiming to dominate the global offshore market

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Offshore jurisdictions have responded proactively to recent global initiatives affecting how they operate. Legal Business assesses recent developments and profiles the top offshore law firms

Law firms are noted for their ability to turn difficult situations to their advantage and the global offshore giants have certainly demonstrated this quality in recent years. While the vast majority of these firms are more opaque about their financial performance than even the offshore tax arrangements that have come under global scrutiny in recent years, some report double-digit growth in revenues and in the main it appears, despite the general economic malaise, they are well insulated against a crisis.

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How the dust settles – Germany’s profession is forever changed but singular still

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More than a decade after international law firms reshaped the market, Germany’s singular economy and culture is still refusing to simply conform to foreign notions. Legal Business reports.

Over the last 15 years, the German legal profession has obtained the dubious honour of being one of the most fractious major markets in the world. Today, both domestic and international law firms are still trying to come to terms with the inimitable characteristics of the economy and legal market. For many, the correct strategy is still a mystery.

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‘We own the time’ – the Africa 2020 vision

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‘I’m standing saying that those who miss the boat now, will miss it forever. So if you want to be in Africa, think about investing,’ said Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, earlier this year in a public speech.

Before most foreigners had become bullish on Africa, Stephen Jennings, founder of Renaissance Capital, who successfully bet on the opportunities in post-Soviet Russia, put it more pithily when he was quoted in 2007 as saying: ‘If Russia was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, sub-Saharan Africa is a second once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.’ Continue reading “‘We own the time’ – the Africa 2020 vision”

A question of confidence – Russians strive to keep high stakes disputes at home

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Given that domestic litigators in Russia and the CIS regularly see their clients’ largest commercial disputes go abroad, usually to be resolved under English law, they treat the outflow of work with unexpectedly good grace. This is mostly based on the realisation that this exodus of high-value litigation not only reflects what clients want, but also what they need. But what’s best for clients isn’t always best for advisers’ bottom lines.

‘The tendency for cases to go to the UK High Court will remain for the next two or three years,’ says Markian Malskyy, head of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) at Ukrainian law firm Arzinger. ‘Normally the bigger Ukrainian law firms would try to exclude the domestic courts from any potential disputes. One party will usually hope that the UK courts will accept jurisdiction. This looks like a good platform for objective justice – still hard to find in the CIS.’ Continue reading “A question of confidence – Russians strive to keep high stakes disputes at home”

After the gold rush – has the age of the oligarch dispute passed?

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Boris Berezovsky v Roman Abramovich; Michael Cherney v Oleg Deripaska – these were the two headlining title bouts that for a brief and glorious moment took the often prosaic world of shareholder disputes out of the business sections and on to the front page of almost every national newspaper.

They involved a cast of colourful litigants with a seemingly bottomless pit of money and grudges, whose lawyers, particularly the barristers, were turned into media stars, if only for a while. The costs were huge and the outcomes of both cases well documented. Continue reading “After the gold rush – has the age of the oligarch dispute passed?”

Into the light

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Still demonised by Western governments for aiding tax evasion, major offshore centres have in recent years ushered in substantive moves to bolster standards and transparency. Will it be enough?

Britain’s prime minister David Cameron wrote to the leaders of several UK Crown dependencies and British overseas territories in May, confirming his support of their low-tax status, but insisting they establish new rules that complement international initiatives against tax avoidance. Continue reading “Into the light”

Through the maze

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Complex and controversial, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive has finally emerged, with huge regulatory implications for global funds. Legal Business asks if offshore jurisdictions can chart their way through

In force since 22 July, the EU directive on alternative investment fund managers (AIFMD) marks a huge change to the European private equity and venture capital industry. Developed to regulate hedge funds and private equity and the promotion of alternative investment funds within the EU, the AIFMD is set on advancing the stability and transparency of investment vehicles.

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Outrageous fortune – how Ireland’s legal elite has stood up to five punishing years of austerity

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Bought by the Central Bank in 2012 from lender and toxic loans body the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) for an estimated €7m (having been valued at €250m in the boom years), plans to use the tower as the now defunct Anglo Irish’s headquarters were abandoned after the company’s collapse. The grey shell of a building standing idle on North Wall Quay is a fitting reminder of the five-year-long turmoil that has battered the Irish economy both in domestic business and international reputation.

It also symbolises what happened to countless properties nationwide, and resonates with the fear felt by many Irish people that the pre-bust Celtic Tiger years will never surface again. Continue reading “Outrageous fortune – how Ireland’s legal elite has stood up to five punishing years of austerity”

International rescue – the advisers winning the key work for multi-national clients in Ireland

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Rescuing Ireland’s banks was a portentous decision in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. It has resulted in crippling consequences for the country, with the Irish government having to receive an €85bn bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund in November 2010. However, what the move hasn’t changed is the league of established Irish law firms which have diversified core practices and picked up some hefty post-crisis work at home and abroad.

Pockets of the Irish economy are clearly surviving, as evidenced by the restructuring of distressed assets that has generated unprecedented work for the ‘Big Five’ and those catching up behind. Upon visiting Dublin, the overwhelming consensus among the firms that spoke to Legal Business – including the top and mid-tier players – was that firms specialising in corporate restructuring, insolvency and professional indemnity have held strong in this fiercely competitive market. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has also been a pillar for economic and law firm survival, as attractive tax rates and a lowered cost base maintains global interest from major corporates.

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Renaissance style – the battle to modernise Italy’s legal elite

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In 2011 Stefano Simontacchi, then head of tax at the Italian legal giant Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, made a high-stakes presentation at the firm’s general partners’ meeting. The increasingly disastrous economic climate in Italy was forcing the firm to reappraise its strategy and Simontacchi, as part of a three-partner committee, had been approved by the firm’s board to find a solution.

‘We needed strategic thinking about whether we wanted to be a very small boutique or whether we wanted to remain at the size we were,’ recalls Simontacchi. ‘In which case, how could we survive when overall spending capacity of the market is decreasing?’

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