The alliance will see all UK work referred to Bond Dickinson
With US merger plays by Addleshaw Goddard and Berwin Leighton Paisner dominating headlines so far this year, last month mid-market UK national firm Bond Dickinson signed an exclusive strategic alliance with full-service US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.
The deal means that Womble Carlyle, which has operated on a non-exclusive referral basis with Bond Dickinson for approximately six years, will refer all UK work to the firm and vice versa.
The arrangement between the two firms, which has been based predominantly around corporate, will now also likely boost both firms’ fintech and private wealth businesses. Womble Carlyle has a large presence in Charlotte, North Carolina, which according to Bond Dickinson managing partner Jonathan Blair (pictured), is rapidly becoming the fintech hub in the US.
Blair said: ‘Charlotte is also the second biggest US financial hub outside Wall Street. Bank of America has its headquarters there. We had a number of non-exclusive referral arrangements in place. Womble was the firm we enjoyed working with the most and because of that we saw greater returns on both sides of the Atlantic. That inevitably drove the thought process.’
Womble Carlyle has a further 14 offices across the US, including Atlanta, Columbia, Palo Alto and Washington. Revenue stands at around $300m, with 550 lawyers and 300 partners.
Betty Temple, chair and chief executive of Womble Carlyle, said: ‘The alliance will increase the already established synergies between our two firms, and serve as a catalyst to grow our global skillset and opportunities. It offers us the opportunity to make available to our clients in the UK the same value proposition that we provide in the US: namely, superior legal services at optimum price points consistent with the modern requirements of business clients.’
The alliance, which according to Blair received unanimous partner support when it was put to a vote in June, will also include a programme of visitations or secondments from both firms.
Blair is keen to avoid presumptions that the alliance automatically means a merger further down the line. Gowling WLG head of international projects Quentin Poole, who insists his firm is not looking for a US merger, says there are many reasons why a UK firm would opt for a looser arrangement, besides avoiding cultural and remuneration issues that automatically come into play with a US merger.
‘The Bond Dickinson deal is a good part of the way down the journey towards a verein-structured combination. The biggest reasons for not doing a full merger are liability issues, as you would get sued in the UK for losses caused by negligence claims in the US. Secondly, you get tax problems. I can totally understand people not wanting to do full mergers and I can’t actually think of one firm which has done a full merger.’
In December 2014, Bond Dickinson entered into its first strategic alliance with German firm Redeker Sellner Dahs as part of a growing international push. The firm is also understood to be pursuing a looser ‘best friends’-type alliance in France.
Addressing Bond Dickinson’s international strategy was a key priority for Blair after the merger of Newcastle-based Dickinson Dees and Bristol-headquartered Bond Pearce went live on 1 May 2013.
kathryn.mccann@legalease.co.uk