Growing international opportunities for corporate counsel
New research into how global corporate counsel source and use outside counsel has revealed growing opportunities for international work.
A survey among corporate counsel across the world, by LexisNexis and Lex Mundi, uncovered an increasing need for legal services in foreign jurisdictions, with three-quarters of respondents reporting that they have ongoing international, cross-border legal matters. While companies have consolidated their home team of law firms, they are using more firms for international issues.
Corporate counsel responding to the survey predicted that the amount of foreign jurisdiction work would continue to increase in the next year, particularly in the US, Brazil, western Europe, China and Canada.
When sourcing external counsel, most of the respondents said they began by asking for a referral from their local law firm, and then would contact another in-house lawyer. Two-thirds had used an international firm to co-ordinate a multi-jurisdictional matter and more than a quarter had used a law firm network.
The survey can be viewed at www.lexmundi.com/ccsurvey2011.
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