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(Reuters) -London-based legislation agency Allen & Overy and New York’s Shearman & Sterling plan to merge, they introduced on Sunday, in a deal that might create one of many world’s largest authorized practices with mixed international income of roughly $3.4 billion.
If accepted by a vote of companions at each companies, the tie-up can be one of many largest law-firm mergers in recent times and lead to a agency with round 3,900 legal professionals throughout 49 places of work worldwide.
Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, which shall be known as A&O Shearman for brief, “would be the solely international agency with U.S. legislation, English legislation and native legislation capabilities in equal measure,” the 2 companies mentioned in a joint assertion.
They mentioned the deal will give Allen & Overy higher entry to the U.S. company consumer base of Shearman & Sterling, which in flip would profit from A&O’s international attain.
The deliberate merger comes simply months after Shearman & Sterling deserted talks over a tie-up with transatlantic agency Hogan Lovells.
Shearman & Sterling introduced in February it was shedding attorneys and enterprise professionals in the USA. It has additionally seen numerous partner-level departures in latest months throughout a number of U.S. and worldwide areas.
Allen & Overy, which posted international revenues of $2.65 billion in 2021/22, is considerably bigger than Shearman & Sterling, which generated about $1 billion, in line with figures reported by The American Lawyer.
The proposed merger would create the third-largest built-in legislation agency on the planet by gross income, the 2 companies mentioned, with a $1 billion observe in the USA. The companies’ joint assertion gave no timeline for a accomplice vote on the deal.
Allen & Overy senior accomplice Wim Dejonghe mentioned the tie-up “supercharges our capacity to serve purchasers within the U.S. market, which has lengthy been a strategic precedence.”
Adam Hakki, senior accomplice at Shearman & Sterling, mentioned “merging with Allen & Overy will dramatically speed up our capacity to fulfill (purchasers’) wants in an more and more complicated surroundings.”
