Legal News

Kinstellar: A Breakaway Law Firm in the Breakaway Republics

By Dan Slater

Bye bye Bucharest, hello BRIC countries.

Linklaters is pulling out of four Eastern European locales — Prague, Bratislava, Bucharest and Budapest — and handing the offices in those places over to local management.

In his Letter from the City, the WSJ’s Aaron O. Patrick says the “move shows how the legal world’s center of gravity has shifted. The privatizations and acquisitions that swept the former Soviet satellites after communism are done. Investment banks and their clients are focused on Brazil, Russia, India and China.”

Nick Eastwell, Linklaters’ managing partner for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, said, “How do you justify putting a partner in Bratislava instead of London, Paris, Hong Kong, Dubai or Moscow?” He added: “These countries have done very well, but they are now run-of-the-mill, mainstream economies.”

In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, Linklater’s nine partners and their 120 lawyers are setting up their own firm called Kinstellar. Both sides say the split isn’t acrimonious, and judging from the fact that “Kinstellar” is an anagram of “Linklaters,” we’re inclined to believe them.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on October 08, 2008 (boomark / email).