Bingham McCutchen's entire London office may split from the firm if it pushes through with merger plans.

Last year Bingham's revenue dropped 12.6% and there was speculation about its future. Now insiders have leaked that the firm has been deep in talks with fellow US firm Morgan Lewis for weeks. If the merger goes ahead, the combined firm will enter the global top ten for revenue with income of roughly £1.2 billion.

But Bingham's London lawyers might not be joining it. Not only have they declined to give the merger their backing, London Managing Partner James Roome is reported in the legal press to be considering jumping ship if the combination goes through. Along with all 23 of his partners and the rest of the London office.

    Inspiration for going it alone, yesterday 

Bingham's London lawyers have a strong reputation for, in particular, restructuring work, which might make them an attractive bulk buy for a competitor. Though finding someone willing to cough up the wages they've come to expect might be a problem, with even Bingham NQs on £100k. While the mutineers haven't gone public on why they're thinking of breaking away, money might have something to do with it. PEP at the firm dropped by $200k to just $1.5 million last year.

Neither Bingham nor Morgan Lewis were available for comment.
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Comments

Anonymous 12 September 14 11:48

Bingham's restructuring team could always set up an office in Scotland to help all the companies there as they go bust following Scottish independence.