Americanization of Law: Reception or Convergence?

. . . he could see the island of Manhattan off to the left The towers were jammed together so tightly, he could feel the mass and stupendous weight. Just think of the millions, from all over the globe, who yearned to be on that island, in those towers, in those narrow streets! There it was, the Rome, the Paris, the London of the twentieth century, the city of ambition, the dense magnetic rock, the irresistible destination of all those who insist on being where things are happening... (Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities)