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American firms need to hire new talent in the UK if they are to grow. Here's how they do it

South Korea Recommended local firms Tier 1 Bae Kim & Lee Kim & Chang Lee & Ko Shin & Kim Yulchon Tier 2 Horizon Law Group Hwang Mok Park Tier 3 Kim & Company Kim Chang & Lee Yoon Yang Kim Shin & Yu South Korea Recommended foreign firms Tier 1 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Linklaters Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Tier 2 Clifford Chance Davis Polk & Wardwell Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker Tier 3 Allen & Overy Baker & McKenzie Debevoise & Plimpton Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy Sidley Austin Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom White & Case Responding to the threat posed by international institutions, consolidation in the Korean financial services industry has continued to produce deals, with one highlight being Shinhan's takeover of LG Card, reported as the largest takeover ever in Korea.

Spain Recommended firms Tier 1 Uría Menéndez Tier 2 Clifford Chance Cuatrecasas Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Garrigues Linklaters Tier 3 Araoz & Rueda CMS Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo Pérez-Llorca Mergers and acquisitions in Spain have enjoyed a bumper year, in common with most of the bigger jurisdictions across Europe. This can be seen in both the volume of new deals and the high-profile, highly political transactions that have grabbed the headlines. In one lawyer's words: "These are the golden years."

Russia Recommended firms Tier 1 Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Dewey & LeBoeuf Linklaters White & Case Tier 2 Baker & McKenzie Clifford Chance CMS Cameron McKenna Salans Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom Tier 3 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Allen & Overy Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton Debevoise & Plimpton Herbert Smith Latham & Watkins "The big M&A trend is domestic," says one corporate lawyer. Energy, real estate and banking are the busiest areas. The hyper-domestic M&A market is a sign of an increasingly prospering economy, much of it down to high oil and commodity prices. This has allowed companies to accumulate cash for acquisitions and Russians are increasingly looking to acquire assets abroad. In 2006, roughly $10 billion was spent on outbound acquisitions. Most conspicuous is the R3.3 trillion ($127 billion) Stabilisation Fund – built from the country's oil profits – which is looking to invest. And the term Gazpromisation has entered international parlance to describe the aggressive acquisition of assets through state-owned companies.

Portugal Recommended firms Tier 1 Morais Leitão Galvão Teles Soares da Silva & Associados PLMJ Tier 2 Linklaters Vieira de Almeida & Associados Tier 3 Gonçalves Pereira Castelo Branco Uría Menéndez Although the Portuguese economy has not had an especially strong year, a boom in M&A and private equity across the rest of Europe has benefited local lawyers. Foreign investment from Spain, Germany and France has brought a considerable amount of work, particularly for deals involving power stations and local ports. The influx of Spanish interest has particularly helped those Spanish firms that set up in Portugal relatively recently, including Uría Menéndez and Garrigues Portugal. Plus the international network of international firms like Linklaters, which also has a strong office in Madrid, has helped win some of this cross-border work.

Poland Recommended firms Tier 1 Dewey Ballantine Grzesiak Weil Gotshal & Manges Tier 2 Allen & Overy A Pedzich Baker & McKenzie Gruszczynski i Wspólnicy Clifford Chance Janicka Namiotkiewicz i Wspólnicy Linklaters T Komosa i Wspólnicy Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak White & Case W Danilowicz W Jurcewicz i Wspólnicy Tier 3 Beata Gessel & Paerners Chadbourne & Parke Radzikowski Szubielska i Wspólnicy CMS Cameron McKenna Dariusz Greszta Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka Gide Loyrette Nouel Lovells H Seisler Norton Rose Piotr Strawa and Partners Salans Wierzbowski Eversheds Transactional work has expanded globally and Poland has emerged as one of the most active countries among the EU accession states in central and eastern Europe.

Competition between firms in Peru concentrated on fishing in 2007

Akimitsu Kamori of Blakemore & Mitsuki argues that board-led defence strategies are the best way of preventing takeovers

Despite resistance from Japanese business, the government has introduced laws enabling triangular mergers to take place. Koji Toshima and Rintaro Shinohara of Mori Hamada explain how to make the mergers work