Go West, young man. And East. And North. And South.

What's BigLaw doing in this "down" economy? Getting bigger. Looking for opportunities to add greater value. Opening offices, merging, forming alliances. Gobalizing:

• SNR Denton barely lets the ink dry on its own merger before forming alliances with 10 firms across Africa
• Norton Rose ties up with Ogilvy Renault in Canada and Deneys Reitz in South Africa, then opens in Hamburg and links up in Indonesia 
• Jones Day decides to open offices in Sao Paolo, Boston, and in Riyadh, Jeddah and Alkhobar
• Clifford Chance moves into Australia with mergers in Sydney and Perth
• DLA Piper opens Miami office and forms alliance with firm in Caracas
• Squire Sanders and Hammonds complete their global merger

What do these firms (and others) know that you don't? They read the same news, see the same signs, talk to the same clients and bankers and accountants. Are they getting secret information? Playing insider baseball? Or are they just taking a longer-term view of the crisis, the evolution of the global practice of law, the opportunities to survive and succeed in what promises to be a radically different future?

Maybe it's time you started looking beyond your borders. Go west, east, north and south. It's a big world, full of big opportunities.