A law firm s structure and practice Zvonkova Kristina

A law firm's structure and practice Zvonkova Kristina Ю-102

Law firm — the form of legal practice connected with organized rendering legal services on a paid basis.

Legal forms Law firms can carry out the activity in various legal forms which are defined by the legislation of the country in the territory of which the relevant firm is created. Special legal forms for implementation of activity of the organizations giving the qualified legal aid can be provided in the legislation of the certain countries. Such organizations can be referred to category "law firm" too.

Structure of law firms in the world In the majority of the countries, including in the USA and England, under the existing legislation lawyers can only be owners and directors of law firms. As a result law firms have no opportunity to attract third-party investors and professional managers and financiers in the structure and to enter the market with IPO that prevents legal business to develop quickly and in a most up-to-date way.

The aspiration to avoid the conflict of interests within the principle of competitiveness of legal system, the binding lawyer to be the jealous and loyal representative of the client and not to charge from him an excessive fee has formed a basis of such approach. Besides, lawyers have to show conscientiousness — they have no right to participate in trials on affairs which they estimate as legally insignificant.

However, as a rule, the structure of law firm by tradition includes the leading partners, partners and other employees. The leading partners are the lawyers owners of firm along with legal practice managing affairs of firm and getting profit according to distribution of the shares. Partners is the lawyers who are carrying out practice within activity of firm for the stipulated salary. Employees are assistants, secretaries and so forth — carry out support functions in firm.

The sizes and specialization of law firms in the world. Law firms vary in the strongest way in sizes. Almost in all countries the vast majority is made by the small firms organized by one lawyer practicing independently. Small firms, as a rule, specialize in some certain direction (patent, labor, tax, criminal law etc. ). More major companies diversify client base and offer a wide range of services, organizing several departments specializing in the different directions of legal activity. In such firms, as a rule, separately there are judicial and advisory departments.

The law firms uniting big groups of lawyers have arisen in the USA and within several decades became the universal phenomenon there. This practice was gradually adopted by British at whom earlier law firms, as a rule, consisted of one-two lawyers. Now small firms in the USA and England have in a staff from 2 to 50 lawyers, averages — from 50 to 200. As big, or "megafirms", in the USA and England consider the transcontinental companies including more than 1000 lawyers with very high tariffs and a large number of support personnel. They specialize in the highprofitable directions, such as work with banks, merges and absorption, arbitration trials of big scale and high level.

The major law firms are based in the USA and England. The highest profit is got by the American firms, but six world's largest firms are located in London. The total turnover of legal business in the USA (about 120 billion dollars in 2009) has no analogs in the world. In 2003 in the USA there were more than 900 firms totaling more than 50 lawyers whereas in Canada those was 58 in England — 44, in France — 14 and in Germany — 9. The USA and England completely dominate on a world legal scene. Analytical researches note that the other countries only select what has fallen down from an Anglo-American table: "the Australian, Canadian, New Zealand other law firms battle for what Americans and British refuse".

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