This is not our typical international supplement. In the past, we've published Focus Europe, Focus Latin America and The Asian Lawyer – magazines that maintained an obvious regional bent as they took a hard look at events and trends in some of the world's most dynamic legal markets.

So when I learned that we would be merging those publications, along with the Global Independent Law Firms supplement, into one magazine called Focus International, I was sceptical. After all, how focused could the magazine be if it undertook an examination of the entire world?

But as the stories began to gel, it became clear that this is an ideal time to do away with the regional boundaries that were set by the geopolitics of the past. Companies and law firms have been crossing those lines for a while and they continue to move around the globe, hoping to increase profits and gain influence.

Of course, recent world events that started with the UK's decision to leave the European Union and continued with the US presidential election of Donald Trump have sparked global uneasiness and uncertainty. As chief European correspondent Chris Johnson writes in our cover story, those two events set off, in the words of one Big Law partner, a "perfect storm of instability".

Populist movements that led to Brexit and the surprising upset in the US presidential election are now spreading across Europe. Calls for stronger borders and protectionist regulations could upend the globalisation efforts that have made it possible for companies and law firms to thrive outside of their home markets.

The shrill cries to build more walls may ultimately have little effect, however. Mexico's newly open energy market is attracting investment from all over the world. Argentina, a country that was in default on its sovereign debt not long ago, is attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment. South Africa has become a gateway for law firms looking to capitalise on business activity in Africa. And the Middle East looks set to continue to provide work to law firms.

We may be in for a few tumultuous years, but the evidence strongly suggests that globalisation will be hard to stop.

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