Coping With Chaos: European Law Firms and the Turmoil Created by Trump and Big Law

European law firms are trying to navigate through turbulent times. Trump is only part of the problem.

I'm Lisa Shuchman, Executive Editor at Law.com International, bringing you this week's edition of The Global Lawyer.

These are tough times for Europe, and not just because of the storm of uncertainty surrounding the war in Ukraine, U.S. tariffs, EU regulations and Germany’s elections. The continent’s legal market is facing uncertainty as well.

Law firm leaders are supposed to be adept at predicting change and ensuring their firms can withstand geopolitical, economic, and regulatory upheaval. But they might be forgiven for not quite doing enough, given all the tumult that they did not see, or hoped they would not see, coming.

In just a few short weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on European imports. He cut Ukraine and Europe out of negotiations to end the war with Russia, stated that Ukraine had started the war and that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator”—all raising security concerns across the continent.

Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President JD Vance delivered a blistering attack on European democracy in Munich, leaving European leaders stunned. Europeans were also shocked by Vance's embrace of the far-right German political party that Trump’s tech-bro-in-chief, Elon Musk, has also backed—a party that adopts Nazis rhetoric. They were also horrified to see Musk, and later Trump ally Steve Bannon, proudly perform Nazi salutes, (an illegal act in Germany), prompting even France’s far-right leader Jordan Bardella to cancel a speech he was scheduled to deliver at the conservative CPAC conference in Washington.

European law firms are trying to navigate this turbulence—for their clients and their firms. Some expect to see increased demand for their services as clients struggle to make sense of what all this might mean for them. Some anticipate more M&A activity, while others worry that investors will take a more cautious approach. European law firm leaders say demand for expertise in trade law and regulatory compliance is rising amid an unraveling of the rules of international trade. In a speech last week, Friedrich Merz, a former Meyer Brown senior counsel who on Sunday was elected chancellor of Germany, called it “a complete redrawing of the world map.”

But even if demand remains high for M&A, restructuring and capital markets work, will European firms get a large piece of the transactional pie?

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