It often seems getting a deal agreed is the hardest part – as in the case of Herbert Smith, which in 2012 agreed to combine with Australian leader Freehills – but working out those thorny integration issues can make you long for the simplicity of a straight merger vote.
Almost 18 months after agreeing its union Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) is still thrashing out how to make its combined remuneration system work, having originally been expected to agree a model in October that would see the combined firm move to a variant of Freehills’ aggressively modified lockstep.
