Belated international push sees Olswang determined to make up for lost time

What does Olswang want to be? Chief executive David Stewart puts it clearly: "A leading and distinctive full service firm across the sectors of technology, media and real estate and a dominant player not just in the UK but internationally as well."

The firm has already largely delivered on the first part of the equation, building a strong brand and genuinely distinctive practice focused on some attractive industries. But the latter part the formula – international reach – will be a far taller order for a firm that until recently avoided expansion beyond the UK.

Yet Stewart's statement goes some way to explain the news announced last week that Olswang is set to open in Madrid in September. With the recent hire of Bird & Bird's Spanish corporate head Javier Vasserot, the launch gives the firm its third international office alongside Brussels and Germany. Vasserot, who Bird & Bird hired four years ago to launch its Spanish corporate practice, has a solid local reputation, but at present remains the only senior Spanish lawyer Olswang has on board. The firm hopes to quickly expand its ranks to cover banking, insolvency and litigation when it launches in September.

The firm says the Spanish launch is just the start of a sustained push to build its international offering after committing to a programme of international expansion at a partners conference last November. Interestingly, Stewart says expansion is not led primarily by client demand but by a strategic drive to target the firm's 'aspirational' client base. To achieve this aspirational strategy, the firm intends to open its own offices as well as building a series of alliances and 'best friend' relationships. In the short term that leaves Olswang looking at options for its own launches in Western Europe, with France in particular viewed as a priority.

Further afield, the firm is looking to put in place arrangements to replace the underwhelming alliance it operated with Greenberg Traurig until the Florida-based firm last year decided to launch independently in London. With Olswang moving to build a referral relationship around top-tier West Coast firm Cooley, the Holborn-based outfit at least has a firm to work with that more closely mirrors its domestic practice. How this relationship develops will be interesting, and maybe even key to Olswang's future.

In the medium to longer term, the firm has its eye on Asia, where it has hopes of securing alliances or even full mergers. Yet there is no doubt that Olswang will struggle to make an impact in Asia coming this late to the game with, in global terms, limited resources and experience. Understandably, some rivals have their doubts about the firm's ability to go international when so many rivals – in particular Taylor Wessing and Bird & Bird – are years ahead of it in this respect. It is hard not to view the firm's current strategy as a compromise between differing paths. Arguably, the most credible approach would see Olswang tie up with a US firm, which would give the combined firm a stronger platform to build in Europe and Asia. But the firm is not there yet.

If it continues to go solo, it is essential the firm maintains rock-solid financial growth to cover the investment costs and present an attractive home to potential recruits. On this front, Olswang can point to a robust performance for 2009-10, with a 2% rise in revenue to £91m and partner profits rebounding sharply to £420,000.