London law firms Wedlake Bell and Moon Beever to merge

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By Thomas Connelly on

Goes live next month

London law firms Wedlake Bell and Moon Beever will merge next month, the duo have announced.

Commercial law firm Wedlake Bell is the larger of the two outfits by some distance, with almost 70 partners supported by around 100 lawyers. Founded in 1780, it dishes out around eight training contracts each year and covers a broad mix of private client and commercial work.

Wedlake Bell scored well in Legal Cheek‘s latest Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey, securing A grades for peer and home-working support and Bs for training and quality of work. The firm also secured A status for its only office which is located in the heart of the City.

Meanwhile, Moon Beever is a full-service outfit with offices in London and Essex. The firm, founded by Victorian lawyer and businessman William Moon in 1851, is made up of around eight partners and 45 lawyers.

The 2021 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

Bonus football fact: Moon’s son, Billy, who eventually took over the firm from his father, was also a goalkeeper for England and a wicket-keeper batsman for Middlesex.

Commenting on the tie-up, Wedlake Bell’s managing partner, Martin Arnold, said:

“The merged firm will enable us to enhance the offering to our clients in some of our core business areas — notably insolvency and restructuring, disputes, commercial property and private client. Clients will be able to access the full range of high-quality legal advice and services and the growth of our contentious practice, in particular, continues to future proof against a challenging and fast moving economic and operational environment.”

The merger will go live on 12 July.

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