But only in the last couple of decades has there been a large influx of practitioners and pressure to respond to what is increasingly becoming, as Mary Kay Kane reminded us, a fact of life. It is in that context that I think our profession is feeling somewhat caught in the crossfire of competing economic realities. On one level, of course, the rationale for challenging traditional boundaries to legal licensing and educational structure, is obvious. Globalization is inevitable. Markets are becoming increasingly international.
Clients demand and deserve representation that crosses national boundaries.
Lawyers are feeling enormous pressure both to meet those demands and to respond to their own needs for expansion into new markets. Obviously, much of that trend is driven by the economics of both American legal practice and transnational commercial practices. This country is turning out lawyers at the world's fastest rate, and the opportunity to export some of them is certainly desirable for many local competitors. But there are also other benefits that lawyers perceive in globalization that have to do with the status of being affiliated with foreign offices. There's an obvious cachet that comes from having an office in Beirut.