As Australian commodity prices drop, inflation and unemployment rise and exports slow, Bird & Bird has triumphantly announced that it will open for business Down Under, following a merger with best-friend firm Truman Hoyle.

The merger will go live at the start of November, though plans have been afoot since March 2013 when the two firms tested the waters with a cooperation agreement. Eighteen months on, and with the consummation of the relationship in sight, Bird & Bird CEO David Kerr said, “we have been very impressed by the calibre of the Truman Hoyle lawyers”. The feeling is no doubt mutual as Bird & Bird has been a consistently strong performer in RollOnFriday’s Firm of the Year survey, narrowly missing out on winning the title this year.

     A happy consummation recently
 
Truman Hoyle will be rebranded as Bird & Bird Australia, and its Sydney office will house eight partners and 25 fee earners, led by TH managing partner Shane Barber. The merger will take Two Birds to 27 offices worldwide, including offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore. The firm has also entered cooperation agreements in South Korea and Indonesia in the last 18 months. Head of Asia, Justin Walkey, told Legal Week that the firm's ambition is to build a leading technology and IP practice in Australia, and there's a strong possibility of the firm opening in Melbourne as well as Sydney.

Kerr said in a statement, “Opening an office in Australia is an important step in executing our strategy of continued expansion in the Asia Pacific region”.
Tip Off ROF