Legal work in the emerging Asian economies will provide the biggest profits boost to large law firms over the coming year – but only to firms with established ties, law firm management experts predicted this week.

Profitability in the eurozone should remain stable, and there may be a slight uplift in the US as it comes out of recession ahead of other nations, they suggested. The Middle East may also provide a healthy stream of income, with the exception of Dubai.

Over the last financial year, a number of big firms with extensive networks of international offices have reported that large chunks of their profits came from abroad. For the second year running, magic circle firm Allen & Overy reported that 50% of its income came from outside the UK. Freshfields, another magic circle firm, estimated that 60% of its revenues came in euros and dollars.

‘The firms that have pursued an international strategy are starting to feel the benefits,’ said Nick Jarrett-Kerr, an independent management consultant. ‘But when you set up new offices abroad, you need a two- or three-year lead-in before you start to get the rewards. Any firms attempting to expand right now will not reap the rewards that are available this year.’

Jarrett-Kerr and Tony Williams, principal at management consultants Jomati, agreed that the Asian economies presented the greatest opportunities to boost profits.

‘It’s the first time for a long, long time that all parts of the world have been in recession at once,’ Williams said. ‘You need a sustained period of improvement to really increase activity.’ He suggested that international corporations will remain generally inactive until they sort out their debt problems.

Williams warned that any predictions were tentative, and that the currency fluctuations that augmented foreign profits last year could easily reverse. ‘There’s a lot of murk out there at the moment,’ he said.