Norton Rose Fulbright and Chadbourne & Parke, two large law firms have decided to combine to form a global firm. They British Law Firm will merge will the American firm into a single entity with more than 4,000 lawyers.
The combined law firm will be known as Norton Rose Fulbright and the expected annual revenue is just under $2 billion. The firms will be merged only in the second quarter of this year, as for Norton Rose its biggest previous merger partner was the Texas Law Firm Fulbright & Jaworski in 2013. This will be the second large scale combination for the British Law Firm as per the New York Times.
Apparently the new firm will receive around 1,000 lawyers in the United States, which includes more than 300 in New York and 130 in Washington. The global revenue for Norton Rose Fulbright in 2015 was $1.74 billion; on the other hand Chadbourne's revenue in 2015 was $249 million.
According to the Law Gazette, the tie up will create a firm well into the top ranks by turnover. The global chief executive of Norton Rose Fulbright stated that the firm is happy to unite with Chadbourne & Parke. This is believed to create a global law firm that only few could match.
Chadbourne had received negative publicity last year when a partner Kerry L. Campbell sued the firm for $100 million. Ms. Campbell charged the firm for repeatedly paying female partners lesser than men and for keeping women out of leadership positions. However, the lawsuit is still pending.
The partners strongly believe that coming together will give them the ultimate advantage of offering superior legal services. Both firms share a strategic vision and client focus they also have high complementary practice and industry strengths. The merger will help them to expand client capabilities in London, Dubai, Latin America and other key markets.
