Legal Journal Spotlights Bermuda Firms
No man is an island and neither is an offshore law firm — and Bermuda’s legal partnerships are among those which have led the way in terms of diversifying their global business at a time of worldwide economic uncertainty.
In a major analysis of international legal firms in today’s UK “Law Society Gazette”, Bermuda’s Conyers Dill & Pearman and Appleby are singled out for quickly adapting to a wildly upended economic landscape over the last three years.
“A global financial crisis would not be a global financial crisis if it did not affect everyone — and offshore law firms are no exception, particularly when quite a few of the $50 trillion worth of assets which were lost in the wake of the crisis were managed offshore,” reports the legal magazine’s Polly Botsford. “… As John Collis, chairman of Conyers Dill & Pearman, the well-established, Bermuda-based, multi-jurisdictional firm, explains: ‘There’s certainly a contrast between now and what we had before’ …
“Offshore jurisdictions tend to feel the effects of a downturn later; there is a ‘delayed reaction’, according to Peter Bubenzer, group chairman of Appleby, one of the offshore ‘magic circle’: ‘So if it was in 2007/08 when everything became unstuck, it was not until late 2009 and 2010 that we were really affected and we are still affected. So we see problems later’ …”
Certain areas of legal work the Bermuda firms once specialised in have, according to Mr. Bubenzer, “completely disappeared” in recent years, an assessment Mr. Collis agreed with: “Whole lines of business such as securitisation have vanished in the recession because it was so closely associated with the financial crisis.”
So offshore firms are reinventing themselves, shedding some of old products and services and embracing new ones, while finding new markets in which to sell them.
Mr. Collis told the legal journal: “Everyone is looking at their products, the company law, the regulations, their trusts, and asking themselves: how can we make them more attractive? In Bermuda, those 30 amendments to our company law are to make it more appealing and flexible for doing business.”
