Partners at London-based law firm Ashurst and U.S.-based Perkins Coie have approved a merger that would create a combined firm of 3,000 lawyers with $2.8 billion in revenue and more than 50 offices worldwide.
The two firms said in a statement on Monday that their partnerships “voted overwhelmingly” in favor of the deal, and that the merger is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The new firm will be called Ashurst Perkins Coie.
“This vote confirms the strong alignment between our firms and our joint ambition for the future,” Ashurst global CEO Paul Jenkins said in a statement. Jenkins will serve as global co-CEO of the new firm alongside Bill Malley, Perkins Coie’s managing partner.
The Ashurst-Perkins Coie merger is the latest in a string of deals reached between large international law firms. Hogan Lovells, itself the product of a merger between a U.S. and UK law firm, is poised to merge with New York-based Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. That merger is expected to close in the summer following a partnership vote, Hogan Lovells CEO Miguel Zaldivar told Reuters last month.
Chicago-founded Winston & Strawn and UK firm Taylor Wessing have said they expect to combine in May.
Perkins Coie was among four law firms that successfully sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration last year to block executive orders targeting them over their links to Trump’s perceived political enemies. Last month, the firms asked a federal appeals court to uphold the rulings blocking those orders.
Source: Reuters.com