As recently as a decade ago, it would have been pretty easy to count the number of countries where top UK law firms had set up international offices. Now, as their client base becomes ever-more global and competition for work at home intensifies, this is no longer the case.
If school-level French, Spanish or German could ever have got you through your dealings with international counterparts, they certainly can’t now as clients look further afield to Asia, Africa and the Middle East.