The best advice is built across borders

When clients operate across markets and jurisdictions, their legal challenges rarely fit neatly within one country or one area of expertise. Strong advice therefore comes from combining specialist legal expertise with industry knowledge, experience and judgement, and applying that combination to the client’s specific situation.

For us at Plesner, this requires that we have the right relationships in place before the need arises. When a client suddenly needs support in another jurisdiction, we need to know who to call, what they are capable of and whether we trust them to deliver high-quality advice.

Complexity crosses borders

Clients are operating in an uncertain and increasingly regulated world. Transactions, major projects and disputes are affected by deeper regulation than in the past, and there is little reason to expect that development to reverse. Technology adds new layers of regulation, while geopolitical tensions, sanctions and changing trade rules make international business more complicated.

As that complexity increases, so does the need to draw on expertise from different disciplines and jurisdictions. In-house legal teams are already feeling the effect. CSC’s General Counsel Barometer 2026, based on a survey of 350 general counsels and senior in-house legal professionals across the Americas, Europe (including the UK) and Asia Pacific, found that 83 per cent use multiple corporate service providers to meet differing country requirements.

That reflects something we recognise from our own work. A client’s challenge is rarely defined purely by law. A transaction may involve regulatory, financial, commercial and geopolitical considerations across several markets at the same time.

Put simply, the client does not have a Danish problem, a German problem and a regulatory problem. They have a business challenge that needs to be solved. Our task is to bring the relevant expertise together and translate that complexity into clear, practical advice.

Bringing the right expertise together

Involving more specialists in a matter can be necessary. What makes the difference, however, is not how many specialists are involved, but how well their expertise is combined.

In the article “Cross-border law firm service in Europe: meeting unified client expectations”, Chambers notes that traditional coordination-based models are under strain, and that firms are now evaluated not on depth of local expertise, which clients assume, but on their ability to “synthesise that expertise into something operationally useful.”

Strong cross-border advice therefore requires more than access to specialists. Different advisers need to understand how their part fits into the wider picture, challenge one another when necessary and keep the client’s commercial objective at the centre of the work.

Trust makes the world smaller

More perspectives only create value if they ultimately lead to greater clarity and better advice. What matters is knowing the right people, understanding what they are good at and being able to bring them together when the situation requires it.

When a matter arises at short notice, trust matters immediately. It creates the conditions for faster, more open collaboration and makes it easier to challenge one another when needed. That ultimately leads to stronger advice.

Trust is also a prerequisite when an international law firm refers a client to us, or when we introduce one of our clients to a firm abroad. In both cases, part of an existing client relationship is being placed in someone else’s hands.

That trust must be earned repeatedly. If a relationship does not deliver the quality we expect, we consult with others. We know our international partners make the same judgement about us.

Why meeting in person still matters

Technology has made international collaboration dramatically easier. In day-to-day work, the practical distance between Copenhagen, Seoul and Sydney is smaller than ever.

But easier communication has not made meeting in person less important. IBA gives us the opportunity to strengthen existing relationships, create new ones and learn from firms and colleagues across the world about their markets, clients and the issues shaping the profession.

The stronger those relationships are, the better equipped we are to work together when it matters and to provide clear, practical advice when clients need it most.

By Tom Kári Kristjánsson, Attorney-at-Law, Partner, Chairman of the Board, Plesner