As businesses continue to expand globally, the law firms that support them are being challenged more than ever before. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, these firms must identify and prepare for a marked increase in complicated international legal matters. That’s according to Wolters Kluwer CT Corporation experts, sharing their insights in a new episode of CT Expert Insights, a recently launched podcast series created to spark debate and showcase corporate services tools to help support client needs anywhere in the world.

In this latest 18-minute installment, “Outlook for Law Firms with Global Clients,” Devlin Fisher, Global Sales Support Manager for CT Corporation, discusses how the global pandemic has affected business activity overall. He also identifies which practice areas are growing the most and how law firms should tackle the international components to client requests. From an increase in bankruptcy filings to additional M&A work, the list of matters continues to grow across a wide range of industry sectors.

“Clearly, the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic has been the driving force behind global work since the pandemic began in early 2020,” said Fisher. “Transactional deals that were scheduled to be closed in 2020 were put on hold or abandoned altogether. A lot of well-thought-out plans had to be changed or scrapped entirely from law firms and customers alike. Companies had to abandon their plans and go back to the drawing board to revise their outlooks and re-strategize what they would be doing going forward.”

The global pandemic has transformed how companies conduct business everywhere, and not just because a vast majority of employees are still working remotely. Governments are enforcing temporary and permanent changes in almost every jurisdiction, and these modified laws are significantly impacting turnaround times for law firms that support their client’s international needs.

“Requests that used to take 24 to 48 hours to fulfill are now taking weeks as governmental offices are closed or working under limited circumstances,” stated Fisher. “It is extremely difficult to track these ongoing changes as they themselves change in almost every jurisdiction around the world. But it's really understanding the way these laws and regulations will impact your clients. That will be the one thing that will set your law firm apart from others.”

Fisher consults with CT Corporation’s international law firm and corporate customers on matters related to global corporate entity formation and dissolution, compliance, global due-diligence work and more. He tracks trends and changes in global jurisdictional corporate law. CT Corporation provides a suite of international products and services that are always available no matter where a client’s business takes them. From document searches and retrievals to due diligence work and more, these tools provide the support law firms need to address the challenges outlined in the podcast.

For more than 125 years, Wolters Kluwer CT Corporation has been the leading provider of registered agent services, incorporation services, and legal entity compliance. It is part of Wolters Kluwer’s Governance, Risk & Compliance division and has a global reach into over 150 countries. More than 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, 95 percent of AmLaw 100 law firms, and 350,000 small businesses trust CT Corporation to handle their compliance needs.

About Wolters Kluwer Governance, Risk & Compliance

Governance, Risk & Compliance is a division of Wolters Kluwer, which provides legal and banking professionals with solutions to help ensure compliance with ever-changing regulatory and legal obligations, manage risk, increase efficiency, and produce better business outcomes. GRC offers a portfolio of technology-enabled expert services and solutions focused on legal entity compliance, legal operations management, banking product compliance, and banking regulatory compliance.

Wolters Kluwer (AEX: WKL) is a global leader in information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. Wolters Kluwer reported 2020 annual revenues of €4.6 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide.

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