Close
Updated:

Non-US legal services: laxer standards of conflict of interest, open cubicles

A panel discussion at the ACC 2005 Annual Meeting on international law departments produced many generalizations, but a few specifics caught my attention. “The approach to conflicts of interest in the UK, particularly in corporate law, mergers and banking, is more liberal than the American approach.” (id at 3, see my post of May 30, 2005 on conflicts.) “Legal departments in Europe almost always sit in open plan offices.” (See my posts of Feb. 20, 2005 and Nov. 8, 2005 on SEI.) “[I]n civil law jurisdictions there is little pre-trial discovery in litigation matters.” (id at 7)