New global outfit boasts over 1,000 partners and 5,000 lawyers
The three-way merger between CMS Cameron McKenna, Nabarro and Olswang has officially gone live.
The deal, the largest ever in the UK legal services market, creates a new global outfit with over 1,000 partners and 5,000 lawyers. Punting for the name CMS (sorry, Nabarrowang fans), the firm becomes the sixth largest outfit in the UK by revenue and the sixth largest in the world by lawyer headcount.
Commenting on today’s long awaited tie-up, senior partner Penelope Warne said:
Today is an important day for the firm and for our clients. We have made this bold move with one goal in mind: to build a new kind of future-facing law firm. By combining top quality sector expertise with international scale and a strategy to become a progressive technology-driven firm, we are better equipped to deliver excellence for our clients in a rapidly changing market.
Rumours of a potential combination between the three firms first surfaced last summer.
Legal Cheek reported in July that “talks” between the outfits had gathered pace with a deal looking likely. However, it wasn’t until September that a joint spokesperson confirmed the rumours. A successful partner vote ensued in September, and the trio revealed they were to merge in May 2017.
But the complex tie-up hasn’t been without its problems.
In November we revealed CMS, Nabarro and Olswang soon-to-be trainees had been offered £10,000 if they agreed to defer their training contract start dates to February 2018. With training contracts usually offered at least two years in advance, CMS was left trying to accommodate the trainee intakes of two additional firms.
Last month the firm confirmed that 25 of its 46 would-be trainees had taken up the voluntary deal, equating to a payout of £250,000.
For all the latest commercial awareness info, and advance notification of Legal Cheek’s careers events, sign up to the Legal Cheek Hub here.
