Corporate counsel shun exclusive use international firms

The appeal of international law firms providing in-house lawyers with all their legal advice across several countries is not that great, a survey of top corporate counsel has shown.

A poll taken at last month's Global Corporate Counsel Association conference in Versailles showed that fewer than a fifth of the 150-plus delegates used one international firm across multiple jurisdictions for cross-border transactions.

Although 70% of European in-house lawyers had favoured law firm providers, the majority facing cross-border deals preferred to use local firms managed by their in-house departments (44%) or a mix of local and international firms (34%).

Almost nine in ten delegates were happy with their main external firms, but 55% rated their costs as high or very high in relation to the value.

Half of delegates said the size of their legal departments was growing, remaining stable for a further 17%.

The survey was conducted by Martindale-Hubble.

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