Citibank EMEA vice chair Stuart Popham, formerly Clifford Chance’s worldwide senior partner, attributes the success of British law firms to the long history of English law, pointing out that maritime law has been a standard for hundreds of years. Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Popham also believes British law firms have a better remuneration structure which is mainly lockstep, allowing partners to share the firm’s profits based on seniority. That means that partners from UK firms can go off and open an office in another part of the world without taking a personal hit. Professor Laura Empson of Cass University says that the English legal system is 'generally more flexible and pragmatic than America's.'  Source: FT