Ogier has made a bold move in becoming the first offshore firm to open an office in Luxembourg. Although many offshore law firms have established trust company operations in Luxembourg over recent years, this is the first time one of them has taken the much bigger step of moving into the civil law jurisdiction for the provision of legal services. In order to ensure local credibility, Ogier have hired senior partner François Pfister from Luxembourg fund specialists OPF Partners (formerly Oostvogels Pfister Feyten), a firm which appears to have lost a number of its well-known partners in recent years.
Francois will be joined by Ogier partner Daniel Richards, who will relocate from Jersey.
This is not the first time that Ogier has taken an innovative step for an offshore headquartered firm - it became the first offshore firm to open in mainland China when it set up in Shanghai last year. However, the important difference is that the Shanghai office is effectively providing offshore legal advice (BVI, Jersey, Guernsey and Cayman law) from a base in China, whereas it appears the new Luxembourg law firm will offer Luxembourg legal services. This is an interesting new step, as it will put Ogier Luxembourg in competition not only with the indigenous law firms but also with the Luxembourg branches of the major City firms who have traditionally been the main sources of work referral to the offshore law firms. Ogier's competitors will doubtless be watching closely to see whether or not the opening of a competitive offering in Luxembourg results in any straining of relationships with the City firms. If it does not, you can expect others to follow in their wake.
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