Welcome to the October/November issue of FD Legal. As the seasons change and autumn/winter has officially arrived – although whether one notices any discernible difference in the weather from the summer we’ve just had is up for debate – FD Legal is appropriately wearing a new look for the season. As risk touches almost every area of financial management, FD Legal introduces a regular column by Frank Maher of Legal Risk, and each forthcoming issue will contain additional risk-based features.

The FD Legal team would like to extent a very warm welcome to Frank, who also joins the editorial board. As you will no doubt be aware, Frank has been a regular contributor to the magazine and with its additional risk focus, it seemed only fitting to have him onboard.

Things sometimes need to get worse before they get better – no truer phrase could be used to describe the global economy, although a more apt phrase might be ‘things will keep getting worse and worse and worse. Full stop’. Having spent the past months watching events unfold from the sidelines, making suitably sympathetic noises for those hard hit, I finally found myself being thrown, against my will, into the game, staring fruitlessly at my online Icesave account, wishing a computer glitch would let me jump in and grab my savings. Scouring the internet for the latest update on the situation, I couldn’t help but notice the latest law firm trend from across the Atlantic – financial crisis response groups. They sure are popping up everywhere.

Not a profession known for adapting so quickly to times, this rapid response to the constantly changing US financial markets has seen dedicated groups – made up of lawyers across various disciplines and offices – and even websites launched to assist clients in navigating the crisis. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld have set up a Financial Markets Crisis Resource Center. K&L Gates LLP organised a Global Financial Markets Group aimed at advising clients on analysing and dealing with complex and interconnected issues resulting from the global economic crisis as well as anticipating and identifying future developments.

Even ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is at it, with Bracewell & Giuliani announcing the formation of a multi-disciplinary task force to guide financial institutions, private investment funds, institutional investors and other market participants through the crisis.

And this trend has already made the leap across the water. As a direct response to the turbulent markets conditions, Mayer Brown has launched a London-based Financial Institution Response Unit, a task force to assist the industry with current concerns, and a Financial Markets Distress Resource website providing links to public information about the recent turmoil in the global financial markets.

But what some could see as cashing-in on a crisis is surely exactly what people need? When circumstances give rise to concerns for their clients, surely the natural, and proper, reaction is for law firms to respond. Of course they will make a penny or two along the way, but they will also undoubtedly save their clients a lot more in the long run. I only wish my 299,999 Icesave allies and I had our own crisis support group.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who contributed to the October/November issue of FD Legal. If there are any issues you would like to see covered or if you wish to contribute please do get in touch. Any feedback would also be very gratefully received.

Joanna Lee

Editor

If there are any issues you would like to see covered or if you wish to contribute please do get in touch. Any feedback would also be very gratefully received.