The Legal 500’s Ben Wheway takes a look at the rationale behind the proposed merger and what a combined firm could look like
The latest merger news to hit the headlines involves two firms which have been down this road before – Womble Bond Dickinson and BDB Pitmans.
On the Womble Bond side, the 2013 union of Newcastle’s Dickinson Dees and Bristol’s Bond Pearce created Bond Dickinson, which then combined with US firm Womble Carlyle in 2016. Meanwhile, BDB Pitmans was formed by the 2018 merger of London’s Bircham Dyson Bell and South-East firm Pitmans.
And so the latest proposed tie-up – which could create a £430m firm with combined UK revenues of more than £160m – will be a familiar scenario to merger veterans at both firms.
But what is the rationale for the tie-up? To identify the key areas of strength at both firms, we have analysed The Legal 500 rankings data to draw up a detailed picture of what the merged firm would look like.
Womble Bond Dickinson has 80 UK Legal 500 rankings, including 20 in London, 20 in the South West across bases in Bristol and Plymouth, and 17 in the North, where it has strong roots in Newcastle. The firm’s UK operation is led from the city by managing partner Paul Stewart (pictured), who took over from long-serving leader Jonathan Blair in early 2022. BDB’s 46 UK rankings are primarily in London and the South East (Southampton and Reading), while it also has a presence in East Anglia due to its 2017 acquisition of KWM’s Cambridge outpost.
Practice-wise, both firms are notably strong in real estate and private client. The addition of BDB’s commercial property lawyers across all four of its offices will add breadth and depth to WBD’s national offering, which includes top-tier practices in Newcastle, Southampton and Plymouth (see commercial property chart, opposite), while BDB also boasts a well-regarded London planning team.
On the private client front, a merger would bring together two already strong teams, with both ranked for charities, contentious trusts and personal tax in London (see private client chart).
Another area of synergy for the two firms is public sector infrastructure. BDB is home to the UK’s largest team of parliamentary agents, while WBD has top-tier teams for local government, education and rail.
The Legal 500 UK Solicitors 2023 is now available at www.legal500.com