In April, U.S. regulators made it clear that they were taking the possibility of a Brexit seriously—and business should too. The Fed and other agencies have reportedly started demanding detailed plans from Wall Street banks in the event that Britain votes to leave the EU.
The prospect is widely loathed by large multinational companies. On earnings calls, Goldman Sachs (GS) said it was “well prepared” and that an exit would be a “multiyear process.” Still, Goldman, along with Morgan Stanley (MS), Citi (C), and J.P. Morgan (JPM), have donated to anti-Brexit campaigns. Automakers like General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) have vocally opposed the referendum. BMW wrote its U.K. employees a letter touting the benefits of the EU. And Caterpillar (CAT) had Prime Minister David Cameron come in to speak to its thousands of British workers about Brexit risks.
One industry that’s not worried? Big law. Global firms like Hogan Lovells, Clifford Chance, and DLA Piper have already started to brief business clients on how the game will change in Europe if British voters pull the trigger.
For more on this topic, read “Everything You Need to Know About Brexit.”
A version of this article appears in the June 1, 2016 issue of Fortune with the headline “Business Braces for Brexit.”
