Unlocking Latin America: Opportunities and Risks in a Developing Legal Market

In a challenging legal market, firms are looking to developing markets like those in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in order to ensure growth for the future.

For firms looking to service the needs of large, global corporations, Latin America is an increasingly attractive prospect.

Many global industries which are currently the focus of international law firms, such as the energy, mining, and financial services sectors, feature prominently in many Latin American economies. And while Latin American economies are not growing so quickly as, for example, the African economies, they are generally more stable.

Based on original research, this report looks at trends in the world's emerging markets and measures Latin America's growth prospects against those of other developed and developing economies.

It considers Latin American as a whole, giving an overview of the economic and demographic trends in the region and underlining the potential opportunities and risks for foreign law firms in this developing market.

The various Latin American economies show very different levels of development, however, and their legal markets have very different levels of regulation. Therefore, this report presents a detailed profile of each the key Latin American economies - Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia and Chile - as well as some of the smaller economies that might present opportunities in the future.

It describes the makeup of the individual legal markets, highlighting the key players based on size and reputation, and describing the role of foreign firms currently operating in the market.

It also considers the possibilities for foreign firms and individual lawyers to participate in the market, under the current regulatory environment, and the likely developments in the near future.

Each chapter highlights several key 'takeaways' on the legal market, which will be of interest to foreign law firms.

Detailed appendices show how foreign firms are currently performing in the Latin American market and the prospects for firms in individual markets based on practice area.

The Latin American economies have developed considerably in recent years and are continuing to grow steadily.

Moreover, interest in Latin America from international businesses is also on the rise. The law firms that can capitalise on these developments and start planning their growth strategies now will be more competitive in the future.

As has been seen in other developing markets, once international law firms start to enter, others will soon follow - and there could be big benefits to being early on the scene.