In times of stress and unpredictability, it pays to be conservative. Most sensible investors will plump for safe havens during troubled times. So is Africa a senseless gamble? Some 20 years after the term ‘Africa rising’ began to enter the world’s consciousness, the continent still delivers a plentiful supply of extreme volatility and complexity, intimidating …
The office has made a series of bold lateral hires in the last three years. What is behind this? Suhrud Mehta (SM), co-London managing partner, Milbank: At one level you could say it has been bold and at another level you could say it just made perfect sense for us to make these moves in …
Russia’s propensity for volatility is infamous. Since its revolution 100 years ago, it has lived through events that the Soviet Union’s founders would never have imagined. Today, amid heightened geopolitical tensions, it continues to face huge uncertainty. But its law firms are adamant that it will continue to provide solid revenues. ‘Reports of Russia’s decline …
Continue reading “Rousing the bear – Russian counsel force to hunt in new places”
Neither political nor economic uncertainty in Scotland is dampening enthusiasm for law firm tie-ups across the border With a listless economy, an oil and gas industry decimated by low commodity prices, and uncertainty over its future relationship with the EU and the rest of the UK, Scotland is lacking both clarity and optimism over its …
Emerging markets are by nature volatile, frequently impacted by events such as political instability, civil unrest, corruption and other economic forces. The extremes of growth and decline could hardly be more apparent than in the Middle East, where the collapse in oil prices has prompted a great deal of soul searching. Saudi Arabia, for example, …
Every Thursday at 6pm, Yair Geva, co-head of Herzog Fox & Neeman (HFN)’s high-tech department, drinks a beer on the rooftop of a client’s office in central Tel Aviv. The weekly drink, which started seven years ago when he returned to Israel from New York, is a routine that is borne out of professional commitment …
If the mood of a city can be gauged by the bustle of its shops and restaurants, then law firms active in Russia and much of the wider CIS region should not be especially fearful. Björn Paulsen, co-head of German firm Noerr’s Moscow office, says despite the recent devaluation of the rouble coming amid prolonged …
A buyers’ market for professional indemnity cannot hide law firms’ exposure to growing risks For a profession often accused of being overly obsessed with risk when advising clients, it is ironic that law firms are taking on uncharted levels of risk themselves.
With high-profile trust and estates disputes providing a rich diet to private client specialists for some time, City firms have recently made the push to get in on the act. If the mass retreat of City firms from private client work in the 1980s and 1990s looked like folly when Mishcon de Reya, Forsters and …
Continue reading “Trusts and estates disputes – Back on board”
Oil price volatility is a fact of life in the Middle East. At below or around $40 a barrel, the region has been dealt a hard dose of realism. Developing economic models that rely less on oil and gas revenues is now the order of the day, while national governments have had to rein in …
Continue reading “Running on empty – how to survive in the Middle East in the era of cheap oil”
