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&lt;p&gt;And now we see how they play out. This week, &lt;i&gt;The American Lawyer&lt;/i&gt; released its 2009 Global 100 ranking of the world&#39;s highest-grossing law firms. The biggest upset (which isn&amp;#8217;t news to those who have been following the firm&#39;s financial travails) is Clifford Chance&amp;#8217;s dethroning by Linklaters. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has also vaulted over its larger Magic Circle rival to take the No. 2 spot, leaving CC in third place. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The presence of so many UK firms at the top prompts AmLaw&amp;#8217;s Richard Lloyd to examine whether &amp;#8220;The English Advantage&amp;#8221;&amp;#8212;British firms hedging their bets against a downturn by spreading the risk across global networks (&amp;#8220;the sort of hedge that American firms have with their litigation and bankruptcy practices&amp;#8221;)&amp;#8212;has proved successful this year. Lloyd&amp;#8217;s conclusion: &amp;#8220;Some firms&amp;#8217; hedges, it turns out, were more robust than others.&amp;#8221; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Insights on the strategy:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&amp;#8220;The success of an international hedge is not only about geographic diversity. &amp;#8216;It&#39;s about business mix rather than just scale,&amp;#8217; says Freshfields chief executive Ted Burke.&amp;#8221; &lt;li&gt;&amp;#8220;An international hedge is about timing&amp;#8212;it reflects the way the downturn spread internationally,&amp;#8221; says Lovells managing partner David Harris.&amp;nbsp; For some firms, like Shearman &amp;amp; Sterling, &amp;#8220;the impact of the downturn was blunted by the slow progression of the crisis from the United States to Europe and finally to Asia.&amp;#8221;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;What next?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&amp;#8220;The same slow rollout is expected to mark the end of the downturn. A growing number of forecasts suggest that Asia will emerge first, led by China.&amp;#8221;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;blockquote dir=&quot;ltr&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;And, according to Linklaters managing partner Simon Davies:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&amp;#8220;Government-related work is going to become more important, there will be more regulation.&amp;#8221; &lt;li&gt;&amp;#8220;With banks having less leverage, the volume of financial product work will be at a lower level.&amp;#8221; &lt;li&gt;&amp;#8220;With continued volatility in the markets, law firms will have to increase the flexibility of their lawyers, partly by broadening training.&amp;#8221;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p align=&quot;right&quot;&gt;- posted by vera&lt;/p&gt;

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