BLP is in merger talks with US firm Bryan Cave.

If approved by partners in a vote due before the end of the year, the merger will result in a 1,500 lawyer firm with 32 offices in 12 countries. A spokesman for BLP initially declined to confirm the two were in talks, joking that Bryan Cave was one of half a dozen firms to which BLP had been linked in the past week. He later confirmed it was true. A source told RollOnFriday that BLP had applied to deregister as a law firm in Hong Kong, but "hurriedly rescinded the application last week. Now we know why".

Last year, BLP's merger talks with Greenberg Traurig collapsed because of fears that the far larger Greenberg (whose partners earned twice as much as BLP's) would demand a painful restructuring. BLP insiders said that a purge of its equity partners would have been on the cards. They were also worried about the imposition of a flog-'em-till-they-drop-and-then-flog-'em-some-more US culture. And BLP partners did not fancy Greenberg's 'black box' remuneration system, which hid partners' earnings from each other.  


  "You're Bryan Cave?"
"Yep. Do you want to merge here or on the rug?"
"We've made a horrible mistake.
"
"No, no. The dog stays." 

Bryan Cave is half the size of Greenberg, but still has around 1,000 lawyers to BLP's 500, and posted £463m in revenues in 2015 to BLP's £259m. Hinting at which firm is in the driving seat, the address www.BryanCaveBLP.com has been reserved rather than www.BLPBryanCave.com,, even though Bryan Leighton Paisner would keep everyone happy.

Lisa Mayhew, BLP Managing Partner, sought to draw a line between Bryan Cave and Greenberg, emphasising in a statement that Bryan Cave would not require BLP to sacrifice its character. Mayhew said the two firms were an "unusually strong cultural fit", possessed a "complementary heritage" and "Crucially, also share the same ambitions for the future". Therese Pritchard, Chair of Bryan Cave, sounded less like Mayhew and more like Napoleon, vowing to "redefine efficiency in the practice of law” and “operate without regard to geographic boundaries".
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