Hi,
in my preparation for an interview, I have been trying to answer the question "If you were a managing partner of [firm], where would you open an office? Which of our offices would you close?", but I have been really struggling with the second part. I have tried researching where the firm currently has offices, and potentially some negatives about the markets there, but really not sure whether to go from here. Does anyone have any tips as to what I could look into?
Thank you
I hear 'where shall we open our next office?' gets asked fairly frequently. The 'where should we close?' came up in a few Linklaters interviews last year (although I haven't heard another firm ask it).
Some factors that you might want to consider for open:
- Why do law firms open new offices? This comes down to understanding law firms as a business. It's a substantial investment, so a firm might only open an office when there is clear evidence of client demand. Alternatively, the firm may be looking to make a long term bet in a region even if it's quite challenging (e.g. Linklaters and China).
- Which countries are currently seeing a lot of investment? Which economies are doing well? Where can law firms expect a lot of legal work? You might base this on market events (like Brexit causing some law firms to open in Ireland so they can still service EU clients). As you said, you might consider the opposite factors for the 'where shall we close?' question.
- Does it align with the firm’s international goals? For example, opening in an exotic jurisdiction may be appropriate for big global firms like Baker McKenzie or DLA Piper, but not for firms that focus on a limited number of financial centres. You can use the firm's website to find out where they've recently opened up. If you can find any interviews with the firm (especially the managing partner), they'll often comment publicly on their international strategy.
For 'where shall we close?', as you said - I'd consider the reverse of these. They might close an office if it's too saturated/there's a lack of client demand or due to market events. This is a pretty hard question, but note, it's much more about talking the interviewer through your reasoning rather than having the one 'right' answer.
