Lawyers Abroad: The Internationalization of Legal Practice

Knowing your boundaries: Integration opportunities in international professional service firms

“…By observing the nature of different value-creation processes, we identified three distinct business models (continuous, repetitious, and unique) that coexist in the firm and have different opportunities for global integration. The results of the study support the claim made by Lovelock and Yip (1996) and Spar (1997) that IPSFs need to balance standardization and customization in a transnational mode. To allow for both HQ-driven control (i.e.…”

“…Many services are coproduced with local clients. Local trends, laws and regulations may require high local responsiveness in the service delivery (Spar, 1997).…”

“…A major driving force in the internationalization of PSFs is that service providers pursue their expanding international customers and aim to provide a 'one-stop-shop' for customers (Brock & Powell, 2005;Faulconbridge, et al, 2008;Spar, 1997). Seeking to exploit its human capital in new markets, the firm becomes international (Hitt, et al, 2006), leading to increased internal differentiation in the business models delivered by the PSF.…”

Delivering ‘effortless experience’ across borders: Managing internal consistency in professional service firms

“…Law firm research has focused on the globalization of the law itself (Shapiro, 1993), the feasibility of international expansion of law firms from a geographical perspective (Beaverstock, Smith & Taylor, 1999Chang, Chuang & Jan, 1998) and the growth of US law firms regionally and globally (Ramcharran, 1999;Silver, 2000;Spar, 1997). A European study with a strategic perspective is Morgan & Quack (2005) who conclude that both 'institutional legacies' and 'path modification' are present in internationalization.…”

Innovative capabilities in international professional service firms: enabling trade-offs between past, present, and future service provision

“…The strategies IPSFs pursue for internationalization vary. Identified growth strategies are following current customers to new markets (Brock and Powell 2005;Contractor, Kundu, and Chin-Chun 2003;Segal-Horn and Dean 2007;Spar 1997;Winch 2008), bidding for international contracts (Winch 2008;Winch 2014), and expanding into new markets through mergers and acquisitions (Aronsen 2007;Muzio and Faulconbridge 2013). These strategies provide opportunities for co-creation and developing international partnerships, and thus enable innovation in IPSFs (Brady and Davies 2004;Davies and Brady 2000;Hitt et al 2006).…”