These Law Firm Leaders Are Optimistic About 2025, Citing Deal Pipeline, International Business

After a year filled with uncertainty, leaders of Greenberg Traurig and Holland & Knight say they are looking to the new year with optimism, now that U.S. elections have passed and observers anticipate a pro-business environment.

After some sluggishness in the deal world in 2024, partly due to higher interest rates, deal flow has picked up again after the Federal Reserve lowered rates. That, paired with an expectation of fewer regulatory hurdles in the upcoming Trump administration, have law firm leaders optimistic that 2025 may be even more profitable than 2024.

In 2024, there was hesitancy in closing big deals throughout the year. But transactions are picking back up in all sectors, according to Greenberg Traurig CEO Brian Duffy.

“[There was] uncertainty surrounding the election and political instability in the U.S. and I think we’re past that. For better or for worse, we didn’t have a contested, uncalled election that would have created more business uncertainty. And right now we’re seeing a significant uptick in demand towards the end of the year and transactions closing,” Duffy said.

“We’re seeing a lot of activity on the transaction side—corporate, strategic M&A, private equity, real estate—just lots of transactions closing by the end of the year,” Duffy added. “People were waiting to see how things were going to play out. There’s better certainty around interest rates and that clarity is being well received by our clients and by the transactional world.”

With the core practices of Greenberg seeing a big boost at the end of the year, Duffy said the momentum appears like it will continue. But he doesn’t know for how long yet.

“I’m probably more rational in my optimism going into 2025,” he said. “I’m not going to say I’m gleeful. I think that would be too much. But I do think it’s shaping up to really lead off in a strong way at the first part of the year.”

International and Trade Practices

On the flipside, Trump has also promised to raise tariffs and be tougher on trade with countries such as China. Greenberg Traurig has an office in Shanghai, but Duffy thinks that it will probably stay stagnant as opposed to just seeing a complete drop-off of work.

Already, at least 14 U.S. law firms have shuttered their mainland China offices in the last 18 months.

“We’ve not seen a lot of deal flow in and out of China in 2024, and we don’t expect there to be an uptick of deal flow, inbound or outbound in China in 2025,” Duffy said. “We still do a fair amount of U.S.-based litigation where Chinese companies are involved, and that’s what has been more active on our docket in 2024 and that’s what I expect to continue.”

Latin America is expected to be another area of focus for the Trump administration, as he seeks to reduce both immigration and trade with those countries.

Greenberg Traurig in September opened an office in São Paulo, adding to its office in Mexico City. But co-managing shareholder of the firm’s Miami office Yosbel Ibarra doesn’t expect as much turbulence as others seem to be expecting with countries south of the border.

“We have a nearly 80-person office in Mexico, and they’re actually optimistic about the next year, just because the economic ties between the United States and Mexico are so strong,” Ibarra said. “Because of the de-emphasis on manufacturing in China, there has been so much investment in Mexico that, regardless of politics, the economics and the investments have been made, and they’re actually pretty positive that a deal will get worked out.”

Ibarra also cited the friendship between Trump and the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, whose agenda for Argentina appears similar to Trump’s plans to drastically reduce government spending.

Another firm with a presence in Mexico is Holland & Knight, with offices in both Mexico City and Monterrey, in addition to its office in Bogotá. But firm CEO Robert Grammig shares Ibarra’s sentiment toward any potential hiccups in the region.

“There’ll be some back and forth between the Trump administration and some of the governments there. I think at the end of the day, much like in the last Trump administration, things will be worked out one way or another,” Grammig said. “From the big picture perspective, when you think about Latin America, we’re trying to do this near-shoring initiative and move the manufacturing out of Asia. Monterrey, for example, has an incredible amount of business activity…You look at that city and all that’s being produced there because of the concept of moving production out of Asia into Latin America, and it is working.”

Holland & Knight’s trade group also experienced a significant bump during the last Trump administration. He expects that may potentially happen again.

Additionally, the firm has a lobbying practice, which Grammig says has been very busy lately. And because that group has positioned itself to catch work from both sides of the aisle, it can now start preparing for the big issues that are ahead in the coming years under Trump.

“There’ll certainly be a lot of trade issues for sure. But you’ve got a lot of things like clean energy issues and regulatory issues across the board. In terms of SEC disclosures and things of that nature, it’s going to be a very wide-ranging group of issues that come up,” Grammig said. “I think it’s going to be clear which direction they’re going to go. But by the same token, there’s certainly going to be chances to influence the details of much of this.”

Another chance to catch work will be in the defense contracting sector, which has been booming recently as a result of conflicts around the world, according to Grammig. And he expects that to continue.

“We think we’re very well placed to take advantage of the needs of the defense industry, whether it’s the regulatory and lobbying side in Washington, whether it’s doing M&A, whether it’s dealing with all the cyber issues that are out there, or even things like real estate: acquisitions of land to build facilities near military installations. It’s across the board,” he said.

Overall, leaders of Holland & Knight and Greenberg are expecting a big year for most of their practices. “We’re very optimistic about what 2025 is going to look like,” Grammig said.