One of the most touted legal mergers of the last decade today (3 June) goes live with Norton Rose and US partner Fulbright & Jaworski unveiling a full governance team for the combined practice.
Norton Rose Fulbright confirmed the make-up of its global executive committee and group-wide supervisory board, with Fulbright managing partner Kenneth Stewart joining the executive committee.
Five partners from the Houston-based law firm join the 20-strong executive body, with six members on the oversight team.
The bodies are charged with governance duties for a 3,800-lawyer firm spread across 54 offices, including 11 in the US. The firm was formed after Norton Rose sealed a deal with Fulbright & Jaworski in November, making good on the City-based firm’s long-held ambition to secure a substantive merger in the US.
Norton Rose chief executive Peter Martyr retains the top leadership role with the Sydney-based Adrian Ahern acting as firm-wide chairman. The firm announced in May that legacy Norton Rose partner Martin Scott will assume the global head of corporate, while Fulbright partner Linda Addison becomes group head of litigation. Norton Rose’s Jeremy Edwards retains the head of banking role.
Long-time Norton Rose head Martyr has pushed his firm through a dramatic period of growth, securing major mergers in Australia, Canada and South Africa over the last three years ahead of the high-stakes Fulbright tie-up.
Though Norton Rose’s run of expansion has been criticised by some for avoiding full financial integration, the consensus remains that Martyr has repositioned an ailing City player as a potential global leader over the last 10 years. The creation of a 20-strong executive team suggests that Martyr will remain very much the driving force of the combined firm, a robust leadership style stance that has generated some disquiet internally alongside undoubted admiration for his vision.
Commenting the launch, Martyr said there was now ‘nothing major’ to add to the Norton Rose Group, though the firm is currently examining its options to launch in Brazil, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico, with a branch in Seoul ‘probably front of the queue’.
Commenting on realities of managing a rapidly-assembled network, Martyr observed: ‘The main thing is the challenge of running a multi-speed business in which some parts of have been doing this longer and are moving at a different speed.’
On those different speeds, Martyr said that the firm’s Australian practice was ‘doing fantastically well’, while its South African arm was ‘roaring along’. Aside from integration, the firm aiming to raise its game in financial investigations and regulatory law and securities work.
Martyr says that he remains agnostic on the long-term imperative to merge Norton Rose Group’s multiple profit centres. ‘On financial integration – I’m open-minded but the key thing is to ensure we encourage common global behaviour. I think we can achieve that without financial integration so I would need to be convinced there was an additional benefit.’
The executive committee comprises:
• Peter Martyr – global chief executive, London
• John Coleman – Montréal
• Rob Otty – Johannesburg
• Wayne Spanner – Sydney
• Kenneth Stewart – Dallas
• Kevin Mortell – London
• Tim Marsden – London
• Linda Addison – New York
• Jeremy Edwards – London
• Martin Scott – London
• Jane Caskey – Toronto
• Alison Deitz – Sydney
• Gregg Harris – Washington DC
• Tom Jarvis – Melbourne
• Michael Lang – Toronto
• Gerry Pecht – Houston
• George Scofield – San Antonio
• David Stannard – Hong Kong
• Bill Tuer – Calgary
• Deirdre Walker – London
The supervisory board is made up of:
• Adrian Ahern – global chairman, Sydney
• Rodney Acker – Dallas
• Mark Baker – Houston
• Pierre Bienvenu – Montréal
• Jill Gauntlett – London
• Deborah Gitomer – Houston
• Sbu Gule – Johannesburg
• Cameron Harvey – Melbourne
• Louise Higginbottom – London
• Clarke Hunter – Calgary
• Mark Jones – London
• Raj Karia – London
• Layne Kruse – Houston
• Chris McLeod – Perth
• Stephen Parish – London
• Norman Steinberg – Montréal
• Louis Strubeck – Dallas
• Tom Vita – London
• William Wood – Houston
• Ava Yaskiel – Toronto
alex.novarese@legalease.co.uk
Commenting the launch, Martyr said there was now ‘nothing major’ to add to the Norton Rose Group, though the firm is currently examining its options to launch in Brazil, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico, with a branch in Seoul ‘probably front of the queue’.
Commenting on realities of managing a rapidly-assembled network, Martyr observed: ‘The main thing is the challenge of running a multi-speed business in which some parts of have been doing this longer and are moving at a different speed.’
On those different speeds, Martyr said that the firm’s Australian practice was ‘doing fantastically well’, while its South African arm was ‘roaring along’. Aside from integration, the firm aiming to raise its game in financial investigations and regulatory law and securities work.
Martyr says that he remains agnostic on the long-term imperative to merge Norton Rose Group’s multiple profit centres. ‘On financial integration – I’m open-minded but the key thing is to ensure we encourage common global behaviour. I think we can achieve that without financial integration so I would need to be convinced there was an additional benefit.’
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