As part of our annual Euro Elite report, management at independent firms in Europe give their views on today’s market challenges
International focus
‘In 2017 we had a record performance. 2018 was a year of big investment to consolidate our development in Africa and the Middle East but we did it halfway through the year. We are going to continue and consolidate our strategy. A lot of attention and energy will be on the international development. Our strategy is still to become a leader in the Mediterranean area, Africa and the Middle East. For now we are optimistic but from the second half of 2018 we have seen a decrease of investment in M&A.’
Stefano Simontacchi, president, BonelliErede
Taking Italy global
‘I anticipate an even stronger consolidation of the big three [independent Italian] firms. Some said we were too big for the market and we would scale down. Instead, we see a process of consolidation. The time of the single-lawyer firms has gone. Even the biggest stars need a structure around them now. We are trying to service clients in more than one practice area. This helps institutionalise the relationship.
There are new challenges and opportunities in relation to Italian businesses going abroad. We want to become a law firm multinational. International firms are not just US and UK-bred firms. We want to work with Italian companies in their process of internationalisation.’
Rosario Zaccà, co-managing partner, Gianni, Origoni, Grippo, Cappelli & Partners
So far, so good
‘So far 2019 has been similar to 2018; it’s going well. There are signs that the economic situation in Europe is not as good as before. There is no specific concern for the time being but we know that some European markets – Germany in particular – are not doing so well. But I don’t anticipate that 2019 will be very affected.’
Luís Miguel Pais Antunes, managing partner, PLMJ
Flying solo
‘Last year was a good year for investment bankers, buyers and sellers, so we benefited. The first quarter of 2019 was in terms of transactional work a bit slow: it was a global trend and it was not a very good quarter for the US investment banks in particular. From mid-March things have started to pick up again.
The fact that independent firms are at the top of their markets means that there is no need to join an international network to be a leader. Independent firms that work well together can compete with international firms.’
Jaap Jan Trommel, managing partner, NautaDutilh
Under pressure
‘It’s a little early to predict on 2020 but I’ve not seen any major disruption in the market yet, except there do seem to be some real struggles in retail. The push towards online has become very advanced here and online shopping has really picked up – hitting the conventional retail market hard. People come and look but they don’t buy.’
Simon Evers Hjelmborg, managing partner, Bech-Bruun
Staying attractive
‘Things went very well in the last year. We saw growth in financial results; development of our structure; an improvement of the perception of our market position. Our work depends largely on foreign investment into the country, so the attractiveness of the country remains a key factor for our performance. Having said that, the firm still has a strong domestic component. We work on many domestic mandates. This mitigates the uncertainty that comes from the level of foreign investment.’
Alberto Maggi, managing partner, Legance
Corporate indifference
‘I’m a finance lawyer working on financial regulation so this year it’s had an impact … a lot of Brexit-related advice. But normal corporates are less interested than I thought and outside the regulated industries, there has been surprisingly little disruption.’
Paula Röttorp, Stockholm managing partner, Hannes Snellman
Something’s got to give
‘It would be logical for a slowdown to happen soon… we have a negative interest rate here in Sweden at the moment with a strong private M&A pipeline. There were a lot of public IPOs up until 2018 but that window is probably closing. Historically and logically, something should happen. But not even Brexit or Trump’s presidency have had much effect on the market so far so it’s difficult to say. ’
Jan Dernestam, managing partner, Mannheimer Swartling