• Abstract

Business globalisation in recent years has now been followed by increasing globalisation of the practice of law. In a generation, commercial legal practices have moved from being principally domestic to frequently international. ?Major US and UK based firms dominate the top 100 law firms globally and many have practices in most of the major financial centres and other cities globally. ?Major global law firms now have multi-billion dollar turnovers and dominate corporate and finance work. I would like to bring out the background to these developments, some of the issues arising and consider possible future trends.

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• Speakers’ Profile:

He is Senior Partner of Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP and is also a member of the firm’s corporate finance group with a portfolio of international clients particularly in the retail, manufacturing and insurance sectors. He is also involved generally with the firm’s international strategy. He was UK National President of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and is now an advisor to the President of the UIA. He is the Chair of the International Issues Committee of the Law Society. He is also a member of the International Bar Association and various other organisations. Harold is registered with the Paris Bar pursuant to European Directive　98/5/CE. He is also an honorary member of the Lithuanian Bar.

Harold is a non-executive director of Interface Inc., PUMA High Income VCT Plc and is involved with a number of charitable organisations.