Lesss than one sixth of partners at the UK’s biggest law firms can speak a foreign language and have a particular lack of knowledge for emerging market countries. Research from management consultancy Edward Drummond & Co has demonstrated that less than 400 of more than 2,500 partners - or 15 per cent – of those surveyed said they could speak a foreign language. French was the most commonly spoken with 62 per cent of foreign language speakers citing it as their second language, followed by German and Spanish. Chinese - Mandarin and Cantonese and Russian and Arabic is spoken by less than one percent of partners.
Langauges and culture offer competitive advantage
‘Being familiar with local languages and culture could give partners a real competitive advantage when looking to establish a client base in an overseas market,’ commented Gareth Ward, partner at Edward Drummond & Co, who added that in the same vein the clear lack of language skills and knowledge of local culture could be a hindrance for law firms looking to grow in key emerging markets. The findings are based on a sample of 2,552 partners at the UK’s top 100 law firms.
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