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UK law firm Ashurst and US-based Perkins Coie have agreed to a merger that would create one of the top 20 law firms globally by revenue, in the latest of a series of large transatlantic tie-ups in the industry.
The combined firm will be known as Ashurst Perkins Coie and is expected to have annual revenues of about $2.7bn, making it the largest US-UK law firm tie-up since magic circle group Allen & Overy agreed to merge with New York’s Shearman & Sterling in 2023.
The deal, under discussion since February, has been agreed despite President Donald Trump’s move to target Perkins Coie in March with an executive order that a judge said posed an “existential risk to [the law firm’s] solvency”.
It is part of a wave of international mergers, including the A&O Shearman deal and the combination of Herbert Smith Freehills and Kramer Levin, as firms attempt to grow their scale and keep up with an elite group of global law firms that make billions of dollars in revenue and have a presence around the world.
“Our clients were asking us to have [a] depth of capability in the US which we don’t have at the moment,” Paul Jenkins, chief executive of Ashurst, told the Financial Times.
Bill Malley, the managing partner of Perkins Coie, said the firm’s clients had needs that “cut across borders” and the tie-up would help it meet those needs.
Malley and Jenkins will be global co-chief executives after the merger, which the firms aim to complete next year. Ashurst Perkins Coie will be co-chaired by Karen Davies, Ashurst’s chair, and Brian Eiting, co-chair of Perkins Coie.
Trump issued an executive order in March that criticised Perkins Coie for representing Hillary Clinton and threatened to suspend security clearances for its employees and force a review of its government contracts.
Perkins Coie won a legal challenge over the order, which is now blocked, but the Department of Justice has said it will appeal.
Malley said the two firms had been discussing a possible merger since February, shortly before Trump targeted Perkins Coie.
“When the executive order was issued we both agreed right away that these discussions would continue,” Malley said.
Jenkins said talks had continued because of a “deep relationship and trust” between the pair and because the merger was for the long term.
Malley said being a much larger firm would make it easier to hire technology specialists who could help lawyers make better use of AI in their work. He said the firm’s client work would focus on technology, energy and infrastructure, and financial services, including advising on the energy infrastructure behind AI.
Ashurst and Perkins Coie each had revenues of about $1.3bn, Malley said.
“In all respects it [the merger] will be 50-50”, including membership of the combined firm’s leadership team and board, Jenkins said. The two firms would be fully integrated and would pool profits, he added.
A&O Shearman announced revenues of $3.7bn for the year to April and HSF Kramer said in June that it had more than $2bn in revenues.
Malley said the firm would not have a single headquarters, but would have “hubs” in Seattle, London, Sydney and New York. Ashurst merged with Australia’s Blake Dawson more than a decade ago.
The combined entity will have 3,000 lawyers across 52 offices in 23 countries.
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