The Challenge

A major professional services firm faced an uncertain regulatory environment in Europe in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, along with a new legislative landscape stemming from EU governance changes enacted in the Treaty of Lisbon. Proposed legislation threatened to have a very substantial impact on the company's business model.

The ASG Approach

We began by helping our client understand the new regulatory environment in Europe, including the decision-making process, stakeholder landscape, and possible legislative trajectory. As the proposed legislation advanced, ASG provided strategic counsel to our client on messaging and positioning, weighing opportunities for the company to offer constructive input and determining which aspects of the legislation were unwelcome but likely inevitable. Our team on the ground in Brussels engaged in discussions with key legislators and regulators on a sustained basis, clarifying the importance of firms in our client's sector to the EU economy and pointing out the negative impacts that were likely to result from the proposed laws. Through these discussions we framed an approach that mitigated the negative effects of the legislation for all parties.

The Result

Successful advocacy resulted in changes to problematic legislative clauses, and blunted the most negative effects of the new laws.