Is the Atlantic "pond" bridge-able by Wall Street and Magic Circle firms? Or
are the cultural and financial schisms simply too large?
This provocative Legal Week article argues
that the difference in approach and attitude between US
and UK firms is essentially insurmountable. If a merger is your
goal, the cultural schism will damn the combined entity to a dysfunctional
conglomeration of practice group fiefdoms—at best in non-hostile
coexistence, but scarcely with any synergistic advantages.
If merger is not the answer, then the question of interest becomes whether
US firms are more successful landing business in the UK or UK firms in
the US? So far, the ex-pat Yanks are winning more than the ex-pat
Brits because Americans are simply more willing to talk hard dollars
about fees, alternative billing, risk-sharing, and even lateral partner
acquisition, while the Brits remain "diffident" about getting in to numbers. (Evidently
"transparency" is a virtue in more contexts than one.)
The Brits have yet to effectively play their trump card in the US, however: Magic
Circle and City firms have a tradition of being truly global for decades,
and it’s inculcated in how they practice; they instinctively think in
terms of continents and regions, not just money centers. By contrast,
as recently as the 1980’s, Sullivan & Cromwell actively discouraged local-practice
at its overseas outposts and positioned them simply as business-acquisition
centers.
So:
- play to your strengths
- do not pretend to be all things to all people
- go high-end, "bet-the-company," or high-volume, compelling value.
