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A&O and Shearman reveal new combined logo as part of mega merger plans

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Magic Circle and US firms announced plans to combine on Sunday

Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling have unveiled a combined logo as part of yesterday’s news they are set to merge to create a global mega firm.

Magic Circle firm A&O teamed up with US firm Shearman & Sterling, it was confirmed on Sunday, to create the third largest integrated law firm in the world. The new firm will be known as Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, or A&O Shearman.

Now it has revealed its new logo (below), which retains elements from both their old ones, namely A&O’s font and Shearman’s dark palette, though it’s green (not black) in colour.

A&O Shearman’s logo

It’ll be known as A&O Shearman for short, yesterday’s joint press release confirmed, but that didn’t stop speculation among our readers, with ‘ASS-O’ among one of the memorable suggestions.

A look at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) database shows a website has been set-up for ‘aoshearman.com’ as of yesterday.

The firm said the merger, which is subject to customary closing conditions including a partner vote, was “driven by clients’ needs for a seamless global offering of the highest quality”. It will bring together 3,900 lawyers across 49 offices and approximately £2.7 billion in combined revenues.

The 2023 Legal Cheek Firms Most List

Here’s how the firms compare in terms of pay and other metrics, according to our Firms Most List:

Category Allen & Overy Shearman & Sterling
Training contracts 90 15
Trainee pay (Year 1) £50,000 £55,000
Trainee pay (Year 2) £55,000 £60,000
NQ pay £125,000 £145,000
PEP £1,950,000 £2,530,000
Offices 43 25
Countries 29 16

It is unclear at this stage what A&O Shearman’s trainee and newly qualified (NQ) rates will be.

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16 Comments

Spenny

That logo is absolutely mid, they got finessed by a BTEC graphics designer

Anon

How much did a marketing agency get paid for that abomination?

Anon

ICANN also shows that allenoveryshearman.com was registered on May 21 2023

Jorge

On a Sunday… that should be a day for family and church. What a dire state of affairs – some people need to get their priorities straight.

Anonymous

Clearly you’re new here

Anon

Also interesting to note is that Allen & Overy applied for the following Trademarks on that day:
1. A&O Shearman
2. Allen Overy Shearman Sterling

anon

I like the merger but… that logo?! It looks drunk. Really awful.

Shineo

‘I like the merger’. You need to go touch grass

Anon

Am I the only one who actually likes the logo?

Logorhythm

Nope, I like it too. Especially in white on the dark green background.

I also like the tiny yet symbolic detail that design-wise, the new ampersand is a combination of A&O’s and S&S’s current ampersands.

Anonymous

Obviously no one is going to say “A

Embarrassing

Which lucky Spring vac schemer got this task?

gonzo

looks pwopa shet lmaoooooo

Graphic Designer

Old Shearman logo was class, what a loss

Monty

Old Shearman logo looked like that of a mid beach resort chain

Artiste

It’s not so much a logo as simply writing the firm’s name in New Times Roman on white background.

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