Global 100: Branded – Inside the troubled takeover of SJ Berwin

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Since merging with King & Wood Mallesons, legacy SJ Berwin has lurched from one disaster to the next. Can the firm recover?

A dire 2015 brought matters to a head at the firm now known as King & Wood Mallesons (KWM). On a wet and windy evening on 22 March, 24 partners from legacy SJ Berwin were hauled in front of global managing partner Stuart Fuller and European and Middle East senior partner Stephen Kon to be told that they were to depart.

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American dream: Bond Dickinson seals exclusive tie-up with Womble Carlyle

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The alliance will see all UK work referred to Bond Dickinson

With US merger plays by Addleshaw Goddard and Berwin Leighton Paisner dominating headlines so far this year, last month mid-market UK national firm Bond Dickinson signed an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

The deal means that Womble Carlyle, which has operated on a non-exclusive referral basis with Bond Dickinson for approximately six years, will refer all UK work to the firm and vice versa.

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Better together? – Those Anglo-Scots unions in focus

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Legal Business looks under the bonnet to assess how the Scottish arms of Pinsent Masons and CMS have fared post-merger.

The ‘Better Together’ campaign, in favour of preserving Scotland’s union with the UK in 2014, maintained that Scotland was stronger as part of Great Britain, winning that particular argument by a margin of around 11%. But while the battle may have been won for now, a number of Scottish law firms are still wrestling with the decision of whether to tie-up with an English suitor – a fact most recently indicated by Maclay Murray & Spens’ aborted merger talks with Addleshaw Goddard in February.

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American dream: Addleshaws eyes US play with Hunton & Williams merger talks

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After failing to secure further consolidation in the UK recently, Addleshaw Goddard has turned to the US for a potential merger partner to achieve its aim of becoming a £250m-lawyer firm, and is believed to be in talks with Virginia-based Hunton & Williams.

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HSF leaders plot China launch and US merger amid new strategy

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‘Could we have a 1,000 lawyers in China? We could,’ Herbert Smith Freehills‘ (HSF) co-chief executive Mark Rigotti said. ‘But that would be accessing a different client base. A thousand lawyers would be overcooking it. I would like 100 lawyers as then you get cultural and client alignment between high quality local and cross border. Would 100 lawyers in China by 2025 be feasible? Yes.’

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‘Not enough common ground’ – BLP and Greenberg call off transatlantic merger bid

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It promised to create a property and disputes giant across the Atlantic and one of the most distinctive law firms in the global market but in the end the mooted union between Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) and Greenberg Traurig has been called off.

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