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Business.
商業。
British law firms.
英國律師事務所。
Taking the magic abroad.
進軍夢幻般的國外市場。
London's big law firms are expanding their global footprints.
倫敦的大型律師事務所正在進行全球擴張。
LAWYERS are cautious folk. So the recent collapse of Dewey & Leboeuf, a big American law firm, has scared them. Dewey failed because it tried to grow too fast, by borrowing too much money. Other firms still want to grow, but they are doing so slowly and carefully.
律師是十分謹慎的人群。因此，最近美國大型律師事務所Dewey & Leboeuf的倒閉已經嚇壞了他們。Dewey律師事務所（后文簡稱Dewey）之所以倒閉，是因為急切擴張，借貸了大量貸款。其他事務所仍然尋求發展，但他們做的比較緩慢和小心。
Consider London's top five law firms, known as the "magic circle". Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance released results early this week, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters were expected to do so later. (Slaughter and May does not release public results.) Allen & Overy had a good year, with its revenues growing by 6% and its profits by 7%. Clifford Chance, the biggest, did even better, with revenues up by 7% and profits up by 13%.
以倫敦最大的五家律師事務所為例，他們被稱為"夢幻集團"。Allen & Overy和Clifford Chance在周初發布了他們的業績報告，Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer 和 Linklaters隨后也將發布業績報告。（Slaughter and May沒有發布公開的業績報告。）Allen & Overy事務所的收益不錯，總收入增長6%，利潤增長7%。最大的Clifford Chance事務所表現的更好，總收入增長7%，利潤增長13%。
Emerging markets are where the growth is. Allen & Overy now gets 22% of its revenue from such places, up from 15% a few years ago. It opened an office in Vietnam a month ago and another in Jakarta 17 months previously. As for China, so many Western firms have piled in that they have competed each other's fees down, but Wim Dejonghe, Allen & Overy's (Belgian) boss, is still optimistic: the centre of gravity has moved from Shanghai to Beijing, he says, as the focus has shifted from inbound mergers and investment to Chinese money flowing out.
這種增長來自于新興市場。Allen & Overy事務所來自于新興市場的收入從幾年前的15%增長到22%。它一個月前在越南開了一個營業處，17個月前在雅加達同樣開了另一個（營業處）。對于中國，涌入了如此多的事務所以至于他們相互低價競爭。但Allen & Overy的比利時老板Wim Dejonghe仍然很樂觀，他表示：市場的中心已經從上海轉移到北京，因為焦點已經從入境兼并和投資轉移到中國資金的外流。
David Childs, the boss of Clifford Chance, is also bullish on China. His firm cut partners during the recession, but not in Asia, the Middle East or Brazil. As for downward pressure on fees, Mr Childs says, slowly, "They are very careful buyers…in Asia," before insisting that his firm has no trouble with pricing there. The firm's revenues grew by 28% in Asia this year, thanks in part to a push into Australia. Next year will be tougher: though bank regulatory work and dispute resolution are providing steady fees, "I'd much rather have healthy transaction flows."
Clifford Chance的老板David Childs同樣看好中國市場。在經濟蕭條期間他的公司削減了合作伙伴，但不是在亞洲，中東和巴西。就收費走低的壓力的問題，Childs先生緩緩地說："亞洲人是很謹慎的買家。"隨后他堅持，在亞洲他的公司沒有定價方面的困擾。今年公司在亞洲地區的收入增長了28%，部分是得益于進入澳大利亞市場。明年的形式可能會困難一些：盡管銀行監管工作和調解糾紛在提供穩定的酬金，我更希望擁有可觀的交易傭金收入。
The magic circle may be getting a new competitor. Herbert Smith, a second-tier firm, announced a merger with Freehills, one of Australia's biggest, on June 28th. With revenues of over $1 billion, the merged firm will be bigger than Slaughter and May. It will push for work related to Austrialia's commodity boom and Asian capital markets. But David Willis, Herbert Smith's boss, is keen to stress the firm's un-Dewey-like gradualism: "We're not expecting a huge increase in earnings in year one. That's not why we're doing this."
夢幻集團可能會有一個新的競爭者。6月28日，位于行業第二集團的Herbert Smith事務所宣布與Freehills事務所進行合并，后者是澳大利亞最大的律師事務所之一。合并后的事務所將以10億美元的收入超過Slaughter and May事務所。它將推進與澳大利亞商品市場和亞洲資本市場等相關的工作的發展。但Herbert Smith的老板David Willis著重強調公司不同于Dewey的增長模式："我們不期望在一年之內實現收入的大幅增長。這不是我們進行合并的原因。"
