Tie-up will go live on 1 February 2017
International law firm Eversheds and US outfit Sutherland Asbill & Brennan have agreed to join forces to create a new transatlantic giant within the legal market.
A new firm means a new name — and hopefully new law firm freebies — and this one will be called Eversheds Sutherland. It will have over 2,300 lawyers across 61 offices in 29 countries. The merger is scheduled to go live on 1 February 2017.
Eversheds — which offers around 55 training contracts each year — performed well in Legal Cheek’s Trainee and Junior Lawyer Survey. Alongside scoring top marks for training, quality of work, peer support and partner approachability, the firm revealed a healthy profit per equity partner (PEP) of £742,000 earlier this year.
On the other side of the pond, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan has eight offices across the globe including in Washington, New York, Geneva and London. Founded in 1924 by lawyer William Sutherland, the firm — which has around 425 lawyers — posted a PEP of $1.02 million (£816,000) in 2015.
Eversheds chief executive Bryan Hughes, commenting on the transatlantic tie-up, said:
Our strategic desire to have a platform in the US has long been public record. The challenge has been finding the right firm, particularly one that shares the same vision as us and is a strong cultural fit. In Sutherland, we have found that firm. Eversheds Sutherland will give each firm’s clients a truly global platform, including strong US coverage.
Hughes — who will be joined by Sutherland’s managing partner Mark Wasserman in leading the new outfit — continued:
The feedback from colleagues and clients has been overwhelmingly positive, with many opportunities already identified, and we are very confident that this will be a great outcome for our clients and our people.
With partners giving the move the thumbs up earlier today, Eversheds Sutherland will now become the 39th largest law firm in the world by revenue.