Resources for law firms
Become local counsel for a foreign law firm
Become a recognisable local contact for foreign firms. Present your practice, your languages and your approach to cooperation.
The challenge
Make your local capabilities clear
A foreign firm may need someone on the ground to understand a local context, prepare an engagement or complement its analysis. Becoming local counsel means making that capability visible to lawyers who may need it. Your location matters, but it should be supported by a precise presentation of your practice.
Your profile should answer a simple question: for which matters can a firm based in another country contact you? An address alone says nothing about your practice areas, the language you can work in or how you will report your findings.
The approach
Present a practical cooperation offering
Describe the territory you cover and distinguish your physical location from your actual capacity to handle work. Present your practice areas without suggesting that you cover every need a foreign firm might have. Focused expertise is easier to identify than a broad, unexplained list.
Prepare a short introduction for fellow lawyers: main contact, working languages, relevant experience and communication arrangements. Before starting work, discuss the expected scope, deadlines, financial terms and reporting format directly. These points help establish whether your ways of working are compatible.
European Lawyers Directory gives you space to present this positioning. Your profile helps others identify you; the local counsel relationship then develops through discussions and engagements agreed between firms.
Take action
Prepare your first conversation
- Define the local work you can realistically take on.
- Write a short introduction in the languages you use professionally.
- Prepare a discussion outline covering the scope, timetable and reporting for each engagement.
A good local counsel relationship also depends on being clear about what falls outside your practice. That precision helps a foreign partner work with you over time.
Further reading
Continue your journey
Would you like your firm to be recognised in Europe?