A brand spanking new Wall Street office is the law firm equivalent of a shiny new Lamborghini.

But some of the more adventurous expansionists have turned up their noses at such obvious status symbols, donned their backpacks, and left the beaten track.It may seem that all interna-tional firms are essentially doing the same thing.

Some firms are pursuing a 'global' strategy, focused on the specialist global finance market, others have a more 'international' approach, targeting cross-border trade, while firms such as Clifford Chance and Linklaters & Alliance do a mixture of both.UK law firms with an international bent have bases in such exotic climes as Beijing, Prague, Sao Paolo, New Delhi and Bangkok.

But being a law firm pioneer is no easy ride.

Law firms with aspirations to be the first in the Cayman Islands would have to put some serious thought into how to set up.Opening in some of these less developed legal landscapes can be a headache at the best of times.

Romania is a case in point.

Firms such as Linklaters, Taylor Joynson Garrett and Sinclair Roche & Temperly are a few of the big UK names with a presence in its capital, Bucharest, despite the odds stacked against them.

For a start, there are tight controls on foreign legal practices.

Restrictive rules prohibit them from setting up formally, and rulemakers are sensitive to the local lawyers' worries about foreign invasion.

At best, it can be bad press for the firm to be there and at worse it could mean jail for the practitioner.It is often thanks to higher level pressure from the Law Society - or through the European Commission when it relates to countries in the EU or hoping to join it - that breaks the deadlock.Law Society international director Jonathan Goldsmith says firms should contact the Society if they are thinking of setting up abroad: 'We are very experienced in dealing with practice rights problems around the world.'He says the Society can front talks and act as a neutral organisation, using its connections with influential bodies such as the European Commission.

The Law Society is helping firms with problems in Greece, Portugal, Slovakia, Romania, India, Korea, Brazil and New York.

'Often, because firms don't centralise the ir market-opening function within their operations, it's difficult for individuals encountering practice problems when they arise since they are dealing with them for the first time,' says Goldsmith.It is usually the indigenous lawyers who are the most vociferous opponents when an international heavyweight decides to set up shop in their neighbourhood.

Earlier this year, Indian lawyers provided another graphic example of the anxiety caused by the prospect of foreign arrivals.

Hundreds of lawyers in full court dress protested on the streets of Delhi.

One of their grievances was the presence in their country of foreign law firms.

Police used tear-gas when the Indian lawyers broke down barricades.

City firm Ashurst Morris Crisp is embroiled in a long-running court battle challenging the legality of it being there.William Abraham, Indian projects partner at US firm Baker & McKenzie, says the fact that the firm cannot set up an office makes it 'awkward and difficult' to practise.

'You have to be very careful to adhere to whatever the local restrictions are and to maximise the effectiveness and build up the reputation you have to be very scrupulous,' he says.Over the past few months, Denton Wilde Sapte has been carefully testing the waters in Libya and Iran.

It has sent high-level delegations on fact-finding missions to gauge the extent of liberalisation.

The Muslim countries' rich natural resources are an obvious pull for the firm, which has built a broad coverage of the Middle Eastern region through its acquisition of Fox & Gibbons in 1998 and recent purchase of CMS Cameron McKenna's offices in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.Despite this sell-off, Camerons' spirit of adventure shows no sign of abating.

Its associated Austrian law firm, CMS Strommer Reich-Rohrwig Karasek Hainz, recently opened an office in Belgrade to deal with an acquisition by an Austrian investor - the first major international law network to enter this emerging market.But CMS is not the first to see the potential in Serbia.

Former Linklaters and Eversheds partner Mark Harrison set up the first foreign firm in Serbia three years ago in modest offices beneath a charity called Bread of Life.

After a brief fling with Denton Hall, which is now over, Mr Harrison has taken advantage of the post-war calm to be the first foreign lawyer to set up in neighbouring Montenegro.So, what possesses a City lawyer to trade his suit for khakis? Mr Harrison puts it down to a mid-life crisis: 'I was getting close to the big 40,' he admits.

'It was just an ambition.

I thought I was going a bit stupid at the time, but if you don't take a risk you don't get anything.

Then I sat there on my first day thinking: "What the hell am I doing here?"'The ex-City lawyer has been tear-gassed twice and boasts of being the first lawyer into the parliament after the recent election.

'There's been nobody around, apart from diplomats and journalists.

We've had two evacuations and a revolution.

It's different from the City of London.

It's been fun.

I have a very good quality of life and it's unfortunate because Serbia has been poorer than it should be.'There are also good financial reasons to set up in an emerging market such as Serbia.

Mr Harrison has identified real potential, although this is a secret he would probably like to keep to himself so as not to attract the legal big boys.

One of his projects, he reveals, is working for Montenegro's government on many of its privatisations.

'But Serbia is the big prize,' he confides.

'It's good to have competition but at the moment it's a nice position to revel in.

But it's not going to last.'In anticipation, he plans to grow his firm from four lawyers to six by February.

'The work is definitely going to come, but nothing will happen until the new elections in December.'Emerging markets lawyers from Cuba to Indonesia have to keep a keen eye on political developments to be in first when the market opens up.

In Serbia, for example, the new government plans to revamp privatisation laws on the investment-friendly Hungarian model.Mr Harrison's advantage is he has stuck with clients through the bad times.

He respects the culture and people of Serbia.

He has even demonstrated against the United Nations in Trafalgar Square.

But some did not show the same support: 'Having been here in the difficult times, I'm not concerned if the big boys come in.'While Mr Harrison clearly had personal reasons for exchanging the hustle and bustle of City life for the rugged landscape of Serbia, other offices spring from pure opportunism.

Take Lovells' Croatian office.

German managing partner Harald Seisler says this office was conceived through his wife's tennis connections.

One day, Mrs Seisler's tennis club owner asked her husband whether he needed a Croatian lawyer, who happened to teach tennis at the club.The tennis coach soon became head of Lovells' Zagreb office, which has grown to 23 lawyers in nine years - the biggest international outfit in the Croatian capital.

Mr Seisler remembers: 'It was difficult negotiating with my wife, who ran the club.

After a while she realised that it was a good idea.'It all seems simple.

But a foreign office is an expensive venture and the fees they generate - while maybe high by local standards - do not compare with those in London or New York.This dilution of profitability has often been cited as a reason US firms have been reluctant to open offices far and wide.

Baker & McKenzie is the obvious exception, with more offices around the world than any other law firm, and its finances bear out the problem.

While in size terms, it has more lawyers than any other US firm and has the second highest turnover, it also has one of the lowest revenues per lawyer of any of the top 100 US practices.But the experiences of UK lawyers abroad show that heading off into the unknown can be frustrating.

Ultimately, though, it can be a rewarding adventure - personally and potentially financially.