Helena Samaha, first female president in Lex Mundi´s history, comments on The Impact Lawyer´s questions regarding the association and its new launch Equisphere. Lex Mundi is the world´s largest law firm network, providing information to its members about developments in local and global law. 

Lex Mundi enhances the competitiveness of member firms by:

• Helping member firms serve their clients better.
• Helping member firm increase their client base.
• Helping member firms and their lawyers continuously improve.
• And more recently, a renewed Philosophy and Approach: a global client service delivery model.

Lex Mundi was the first network of leading independent law firms around the world. Consequently, we had the first mover advantage and recruited the best and most versatile firms available in the jurisdictions we covered. We consolidated on that position by introducing very stringent quality standards which we enforce rigorously. The first and most basic advantage of using Lex Mundi, and the foundation upon which everything else is based, is that guarantee of quality, which is consistent and exceptionally high, wherever you use us.  If you are operating in a new jurisdiction and you need a good law firm, the Lex Mundi firm will be as good as you can get. We are also local, wherever you are.  Our expertise is not centralised in a huge headquarters office, but rather on the doorstep of our clients wherever that client might be.  In addition, because our members are independent local firms, they are nimble and adaptable to the needs of your business on the ground. The over-simplification of “it is the same everywhere” creates pitfalls for global companies, often in the form of compliance breaches. With Lex Mundi firms, you will get the best advice for the jurisdiction concerned. If you are going through a crisis – say a cyber breach – you will tend to want the legal expert dealing with it to be standing beside you, rather than on a video call from 5,000 miles away. Finally because our firms are not supporting the costs of a substantial central HQ in, say, London or New York, their fee structure is simple and competitive without loaded central costs.

Lex Mundi covers more territory than any other conglomeration of lawyers – 700 offices in over 125 countries – and we have over 22,000 lawyers, more than anybody else. So we are bigger, we have strength in depth and we have the guarantee of consistent high quality mentioned above. We also have a very established group of firms many of whom having been working together in the network for three decades, meeting at Lex Mundi events, training together through Lex Mundi professional development courses and working together on complex cross-border matters. There is a cohesion, consistency and collaborative openness to Lex Mundi that goes beyond what you would expect from any network – even from any single global firm.  There is also a substantial central Lex Mundi team dealing with advancing members capabilities in technology and innovation, business development, knowledge and learning and marketing. Therefore in addition to the quality assurance, Lex Mundi provides tools, resources, people, and a technology platform to join up the services of member firms at unbeatable value, leaving the client in control of the services and fees – we’re talking about Equisphere.

Equisphere is about matching Lex Mundi’s capabilities exactly to a client’s requirements. Firstly via our geographical footprint, we can tailor a group of our member firms to match where a client needs to be, creating in effect the ideal, bespoke international legal team for that client. We then combine expertise and resources in account management, project management (including account managers), reporting software and collaborative technology, to provide the client with full control over budgets and transparency over workflows. So, through Equisphere, we offer the client the ideal team, in the right locations, working together seamlessly, and with straightforward access and full management control. It is a very compelling proposition.

“Equisphere is designed as a service delivery solution to meet the requirements of in-house counsel and clients in multinational companies who have complex, cross-border legal work. It enables clients to receive joined up cross-border legal services, through the precise combination of geographies, people and processes, via up-to-date technology platforms, as conveniently and efficiently as any single international law firm would be able to do, with the added assurance of consistency of quality through the membership criteria and transparent fee structures.”

“Clients get “the best of both worlds” with Lex Mundi and Equisphere. They can access the top tier local lawyers wherever they need them, coupled with the resources of Lex Mundi that enable the coordination and reporting that clients need, without paying any additional loaded costs. In-house counsel are highly sophisticated business clients. They understand that a network is not just a best friends club exchanging referrals. What has been missing is the technology making collaboration and service delivery more seamless. Now that potential is becoming fully realised through Equisphere. The largest networks working together to deliver complex, multi-jurisdictional work has always existed, and at Lex Mundi we have been involved in matters of this type for a range of clients for decades. With Equisphere, by tailoring the people and cutting-edge processes to the clients’ footprint we can offer them a compelling and innovative service delivery model, powered by an up-to-date technology platform, to effectively address their international legal requirements.”

“The advent of the COVID-19 crisis is a stark reminder of the importance of combining planning for the unknown, with being nimble and agile, in order to respond to the unpredictable. COVID-19 will clearly have a far-reaching impact across the world, including the global business landscape. Some firms may struggle to come out of lockdown with an intact, viable business, and that in turn will drive more consolidation as a result. The culture of law firms will be molded by the realisation of just how much can be achieved without the need for expensive offices loaded with costly utilities and services. Artificial Intelligence adoption will continue to gather pace, and end some career paths within firms while creating others.  Simultaneously, an increasing reliance on technology will require an increasing awareness and dedication to cybersecurity. I expect the Big 4 will become more assertive about their ambitions in the legal market, creating new challenges, opportunities, and more competitive pressure for everybody in the sector. However, in all of this, business leaders need to be thinking carefully now about what long term success looks like, and will want to ensure they do not “throw out the baby with the bath water”. That is why it is essential for law firms, and the networks they are part of, to ensure their future strategies are built around the needs of their clients.”