Gulf stream – the heat returns to the Middle East markets

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Post-banking crisis, the world has generally divided fairly neatly into two camps with their clear economic narratives. On one hand there are the Western economies burdened by slow growth and creaking public finances. On the other, are emerging powers in Asia, Latin America and Africa – which have mostly surged ahead while Europe staggered.

Where the Middle East fits into this picture, however, remains undecided. As one of the most touted legal markets during the boom, the region’s resource-rich economy was driven by surging commodity prices, high inward investment and the growing status of Dubai as an international hub.

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Outward Bound – Portugal lawyers turn to global opportunities

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Portugal continues to navigate a deep recession, aided by its legal profession. But while the sale of state assets is providing some relief, firms are looking to their international practices to provide a bailout of their own.

The normally sedate setting of the Ritz Hotel in Lisbon became the focal point of Portugal’s malaise in April. A flash mob of angry protestors gathered outside the hotel urging the Portuguese government to `screw the troika’ in response to the severe austerity plans tabled to meet the demands of Portugal’s 2011 €78bn bailout by the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and the European Commission.

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Laterally Latin – a sideways year for a hot market

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After so much talk of the rise of Latin America since the 2008 banking crisis gripped Western economies, there is no doubt that 2012 felt like something of a disappointment.

The region’s powerhouse economy, Brazil, saw growth slow considerably, cooling the market that has by far the greatest regional pulling power for multinationals and international law firms. The result, in relative terms against a 2010 and 2011 dominated by record levels of inward investment and a string of big-ticket deals, was a low-key year for advisers.

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Keep Calm and Carry On – Cyprus’ lawyers face up to the worst

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Beware the Ides of March: for two weeks earlier this year, the world held its collective breath as Cyprus teetered on the brink. What began with Cypriot banks closing their doors to prevent a run ended with recently installed president Nicos Anastasiades signing a bailout deal with the Troika that he hopes will save the country from bankruptcy.

Anastasiades walked into the crisis with his eyes open. Cyprus, which has been in dire straits following successive ratings downgrades last year, sought financial aid and support in June, and entered negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Commission and the European Central Bank. However, Cyprus was unlikely to face the embarrassment of bankruptcy negotiations until its six-month tenure of the EU presidency ended last December. Inertia prevailed until the new government was elected in February, tasked with saving the nation’s economy. Not since the violent partition of the island in the mid-1970s has the country so dominated world headlines. Continue reading “Keep Calm and Carry On – Cyprus’ lawyers face up to the worst”

Israel – New Heights

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In a Tel Aviv conference in June this year, DLA Piper, White & Case, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Weil, Gotshal & Manges will rub shoulders with Israel’s legal elite in discussing the liberalisation and internationalisation of the country’s legal market. The conference, hosted by the Tel Aviv District Israel Bar Association and legal marketing and consulting company Robus, highlights the growing presence of international law firms in Israel. And while this may bear all the hallmarks of another instance of empire building by international advisers, the reality is actually a little more nuanced.

Israel may have only just liberalised its legal market to allow foreign entrants – through an order passed by the Israeli finance minister in August 2012 – but many firms have long been present in the jurisdiction unofficially. Regardless of whether the liberalisation process will fundamentally alter the state of the market or not, there is concern about its effect on the domestic Bar, which is already saturated by highly qualified Israeli lawyers, including immigrants who previously practised overseas.

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Switzerland – Being Prepared

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In most markets, it wouldn’t qualify as news but in the conservative Swiss legal community, the creation last April of Meyerlustenberger Lachenal via a merger between Zürich’s meyerlustenberger and Geneva’s Lachenal & Le Fort is still making waves. Currently listed as one of the largest law firms in Switzerland, it is present in Zug, Lausanne and Brussels, in addition to Zürich and Geneva.

The roots of Lachenal & Le Fort date back to 1882, while meyerlustenberger was established in 1975. According to Christophe Rapin – a Lausanne-based partner at the combined firm – an important driver behind the merger, which created a 30-partner practice, was to ensure national coverage of the Swiss market, particularly for the firm’s international clientele.

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Central and eastern Europe: CEE the light

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The most recent global deal statistics have shown that the outlook remains pretty dark for the world’s emerging markets. According to figures published by mergermarket, the value of emerging markets deals plummeted by 24.1% in the first three quarters of a2012, down from $386.8bn in 2011 to $293.5bn. Significantly, it’s not simply a result of a drop in worldwide deals. Instead, it seems that investors are specifically turning away from these jurisdictions; emerging markets accounted for 23.5% of deals in 2011, but in the first three quarters of 2012 that fell to 15.8%.

However, this drop has not been reflected in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In fact, the CEE (excluding Russia) is currently the most active M&A region in Europe, with mergermarket counting 789 deals in the first three quarters of 2012. To put those figures into perspective, the Germanic region was second with 691 deals and the UK and Ireland were third with 640. Continue reading “Central and eastern Europe: CEE the light”

Offshore: branching out

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While fresh legislation is good news for the Cayman Islands’ insurance and reinsurance markets, BVI funds lawyers welcome a new regulatory regime. LB assesses the response from the Caribbean’s top law firms

Significant legislative changes have brought good news to the thriving Caribbean offshore market. After much anticipation, the Cayman Islands Insurance Law 2010 came into force in November, making significant amendments to the current insurance and reinsurance business regime in the islands. The law brings Cayman’s insurance sector in line with international standards and should attract more commercial reinsurers.

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Offshore: new ground

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Guernsey recently passed the world’s first-ever legislation to protect image rights and, following in Jersey and the Isle of Man’s footsteps, the island has introduced a foundations law. LB assesses the reaction from the local legal market

Thanks to new law that came into effect in Guernsey in December, a person or company can now register their image rights. This is the first legislation of its type in the world, allowing individuals to protect voices, expressions, pictures, videos and recordings. A modern, online-specific registry has also been designed for that purpose.

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Germany: Unsung heroes

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Europe has been ravaged by the debt crisis and Germany has been far from immune, but the resilience of one segment of the economy is a boon to domestic law firms. Meet the Mittelstand

Germany’s hidden champions are keeping its law firms in the pink. While European law firms continue to feel the effects of the prolonged hangover caused by the eurozone crisis and general economic malaise, a number of German domestic law firms are seeing work pour in from German family-owned, small-to-medium sized businesses, the so-called Mittelstand.

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