The Legal World Is Flat: Globalization and Its Effect on Lawyers Practicing in Non-Global Law Firms

While lawyers in these large global law firms usually are aware of why globalization is relevant to them, other U.S. lawyers may not think that the globalization phenomenon affects them. A comment frequently heard is "Law is local so I don't have to worry about globalization affecting me or my practice." The goal of this article is to look at Friedman's work through the lens of legal services and to answer several questions, including: • Whether Friedman's analysis is relevant to what has happened in the field of legal services; • Whether a U.S. lawyer who doesn't practice in a global law firm should care about globalization and what Friedman says; and • If so, what, if anything, can or should a U.S. lawyer do in response to globalization?