The remarkable story begins with Charles Coudert who, after France's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, joined with a number of other military officers in an unsuccessful coup against Napoleon Bonaparte and was incarcerated in Paris. With just 12 hours left before execution by guillotine, he managed to escape and fled to the United States.

He had three sons who went on to study law. The eldest son, Frederic Rene Coudert, founded Coudert Brothers in New York in 1853, and was later joined by his two brothers, Charles (junior) and Louis Leonce.

Although their father had barely escaped the guillotine and fled to America, the family retained close connections with France.

"We became, we believe, the first international law firm when one of the brothers opened a law office in Paris in 1879," David Huebner, Chairman of Coudert Brothers explained. "So we were already practicing internationally long before most firms saw any benefit in engaging in overseas business."

Coudert Brothers now employs around 650 lawyers in 18 countries. Although its New York office is the firm's headquarters, representing 35 percent of its lawyers, Mr Huebner said no single office controls the rest of the firm.

"In fact, I believe we are truly the only really multinational law firm, which is distinct from being international," he added.

With 40 percent of its lawyers practicing in North America, 40 percent in Europe and the remaining 20 percent in Asia, Coudert Brothers and its clients have at their disposal a global network of local expertise. The close integration of the firm and its partners, who regularly meet to get to know each other better, provides great benefits to its clients, he said.

Unlike many law firms, Coudert Brothers operates a single profit centre. As such, partners are not rewarded based on the amount of work that passes through their office.

"As a result, we refer work more readily to other offices which have strong local, as well as international, law capabilities and as such are more appropriate to do a particular type of work," Mr Huebner said.

"So when a client approaches one office, they have the benefit of Coudert Brothers quality and expertise in our 30 offices around the world," he said. "This also saves clients' time, because they then do not need to manage 12 different law firms if they are involved in international business."

Pioneers

Unlike many service companies, who go where their clients go, Coudert Brothers has always been a firm of explorers and pioneers, Mr Huebner said.

"In many cases, we were the first law firm into the market. We were the first U.S. law firm to open an office in London. We were the first foreign firm into China after U.S. President Nixon's visit in 1972. We were the first foreign firm into Russia when it was still the USSR ... So we tend to arrive ahead of the curve, when things are a little unsettled and when mostly all that exists is future potential rather than existing profits," he said.

The China market is now one of the firm's top priorities. Mr Huebner said he hasn't set any specific growth targets for China, as these tend to be too artificial, but he is looking for substantial growth.

"We are very focused on quality of service in the practice. There are a good number of firms who grow faster than we do, but our primary goal is to maintain the level of quality of assistance that we offer our clients," he said.

(Members may be interested in watching a very interesting video on the history of Coudert Brothers at, www.coudert.com/the_firm/150_year.asp)