The US law firm Squire, Sanders and Dempsey, is to join together with Hammonds, a London law firm, in the most recent transatlantic tie-up. The tie-ups are being driven by demand among clients for global corporate lawyers.
This present deal constructs a law firm that will rank among the top 25 global legal practices,based on statistics of lawyers, and will encompass 37 offices in 17 countries. Presently, Hammonds is ranked as one of the UK’s top 25 law firms and Squire Sanders is in among the US top 50.
Approximately just about 90 per cent of the firms' partnerships voted for the tie-up, which takes effect in January.
James Maiwurm, chair of Squire Sanders, will become the international chief executive of the combined firm,with Peter Crossley, managing partner of Hammonds, taking over as managing partner for Europe.
The united firm will have much broader geographic coverage at a time when corporate clients are demanding that law firms have the proficiency to tackle complex cross-border deals or litigation disputes spanning numerous countries.
Mr Maiwurm stated that the two firms had complementary geographic footprints with Squire Sanders having a strong base in the US and Latin America and Hammonds robustly represented in Europe and the UK.He also added that both firms had been quick off the mark to expand globally and the combined firm would have a strong focus on areas such as litigation, worldwide arbitration, deals as well as corporate finance.
