US legal group Simpson Thacher is opening an EU office in a sign of the disruption Brexit may cause corporate law firms that had previously relied on a London base to conduct business across the 27-member bloc, reported The Financial Times.
The New York-based law firm is establishing an office in Brussels this summer after finding that the UK’s exit from the bloc was impeding its ability to advise clients on EU antitrust, competition, and regulatory law.
The end of the UK’s transition period with the EU has had “a pretty immediate impact on one of our core practice areas (antitrust and competition),” Bill Dougherty, chairman of the firm’s executive committee, told the Financial Times.
Clients faced “continued challenges in navigating an evolving legal framework” as a result of the trade deal Britain struck with the EU before leaving, he added. Founded in 1884, Simpson Thacher is one of Wall Street’s elite “white shoe” firms and known for its private equity practice. The group employs more than 1,000 lawyers across 10 offices, including New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Palo Alto, California.
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