Lawyers, Law Firms and the Stabilization of Transnational Business

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, Vol. 28, pp. 489-525, 2008

U. of Westminster School of Law Research Paper No. 10-03

30 Pages Posted: 24 Jan 2010

See all articles by John Flood

John Flood

Griffith University; Queensland University of Technology; Centre for Blockchain Technologies

Fabian P. Sosa

University of Bremen

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Abstract

Globalization is having profound effects on the practice and the organization of law. In the field of cross-border transactions the role of the state and its legal system has diminished such that private ordering through contracting is now the key mode of lawmaking. The vast majority of private ordering is undertaken by large law firms with international practices. Moreover, these law firms tend to adopt Anglo-American common law principles when putting together transactions. Yet within Europe there is competition from the law firms of the civil law countries, which are becoming adept at identifying markets not fully taken over by the American and English firms. But in order to understand the roles of lawyers in such cross-border transactions, we start from Abel and Lewis' question: what is that lawyers do? By using a number of case studies of transactions and disputes, we attempt to theorize how it is that lawyers create enabling and support structures for transnational business. We draw on Luhmann's ideas of stabilization of expectations and Gilson's depiction of lawyers as transaction cost engineers to help explain our findings.

Keywords: lawyers, Luhmann, Gilson, cross-border, globalization, law firms

JEL Classification: F23, J44

Suggested Citation

Flood, John A. and Sosa, Fabian P., Lawyers, Law Firms and the Stabilization of Transnational Business. Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business, Vol. 28, pp. 489-525, 2008, U. of Westminster School of Law Research Paper No. 10-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1540613

John A. Flood (Contact Author)

Griffith University ( email )

Nathan campus
Nathan, Queensland 4111
Australia

HOME PAGE: http://https://experts.griffith.edu.au/18783-john-flood

Queensland University of Technology ( email )

Level 4, C Block Gardens Point
2 George St
Brisbane, QLD 4000
Australia

Centre for Blockchain Technologies ( email )

UCL CBT UCL Computer Science
Malet Place London WC
London, London WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://blockchain.cs.ucl.ac.uk/john-flood/

Fabian P. Sosa

University of Bremen ( email )

Universitaetsallee GW I
Bremen, D-28334
Germany

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