Norton Rose signs tie-up with Australia's Deacons
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Norton Rose is to merge with Deacons Australia, giving the combined entity a turnover of more than £420m and 12 offices across Australasia.
Norton Rose chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured) will be group chief executive of the enlarged firm, which will trade under the name Norton Rose Group. Deacons’ current chief executive Don Boyd will take on the role of deputy group chief executive while Norton Rose chairman Stephen Parish will be chair of the combined firm.
Although Deacons’ Hong Kong arm, which has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, will not be part of the merger, Martyr said the combined firm will focus on further expansion across Asia. Norton Rose has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Martyr added: “The economic influence in the world is moving eastwards and in order to develop our business we needed a significant expansion in our resources in Asia Pacific.
“The increased capability of the group throughout Asia Pacific will lay the foundations for further regional development and expansion.”
Boyd at Deacons said that Norton Rose’s focus on Asia had been a key driver for his firm in agreeing to the tie-up.
He added: “As soon as the initial discussions were underway it became clear that there was a common global ambition, particularly in the predicted growth markets of the future, namely Asia Pacific.
“We have shared aspirations regarding strategic growth, both in practice area terms and geographic expansion.”
Following the tie-up the firm will have 700 fee earners across Asia, operating from offices in Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Jakarta, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, as well as in China.
The partnerships of both firms approved the deal, which will take effect at the beginning of 2010, in a vote yesterday.
The news comes months after magic circle firm Clifford Chance broke off merger discussions with Australia’s largest firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques due to the state of the global economy (8 December 2008).
Had the Clifford Chance merger gone ahead, the combined firm would have had over 1,000 lawyers operating in Asia.
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Readers' comments (31)
Anonymous | 23-Jun-2009 11:13 am
Strewth!
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Sceptical | 23-Jun-2009 11:13 am
This is obviously not a merger of equals. What is going to happen to Deacons offices? Will NR want outposts in Perth or Brissie?
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mary | 23-Jun-2009 11:36 am
This is a really interesting move and one that the magic circle would surely have wanted to make first. Australian lawyers are known to be excellent and the access this gives to Asia, where Norton Rose is already pretty strong, will be really useful. But is Norton Rose still pursuing its dream of a US merger? This merger will take some time to bed down and if the firm also wants to make it on a transatlantic basis it would find itself facing some major cultural issues.
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Chris | 23-Jun-2009 12:36 pm
More importantly, will Deacons want access to NR's middle east and european network. Perth and Brissie offices most likely generate more revenue due to the resources boom in Qld and Western Australia.
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Anon | 23-Jun-2009 12:50 pm
Although I have never worked at Deacons it was always perceived as having a really great culture with a strong client base (yes even in Brisbane where it has a fairly large presence by Australian standards - sensible comment Chris on the resourses based clients)..... I can't imagine that the firm cultures would be incompatible. They could do with canning the open plan offices at Deacons though.
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Walter Kurtz | 23-Jun-2009 1:14 pm
Open plan offices: The horror! The horror!
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Anonymous | 23-Jun-2009 1:21 pm
In addition to Asia in general, both Norton Rose and Deacons have substantial Indian expertise. The combined entity can easily service Indian market with Australian expertise (read resources) and English law capabilities of NR
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Amber | 23-Jun-2009 2:40 pm
Get your facts right lads. English firms in OZ are old news.
London City firm Holman Fenwick Willan have had an office in Melbouren for more than 3 years.
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poisonous trouser snake | 23-Jun-2009 2:57 pm
Why would anyone want to work with Australians, there are enough of them here as it is.
And there's a reason they were all sent back home on the first whiffs of downturn.
They should stick to making barbees, Norton Rose should stick to outsourcing their legal work to Oz rather than merging with them.
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Paul | 24-Jun-2009 0:44 am
CRIKEY! Poor old Kezza (Kerry Packer) is still copping it even from the grave!!!
We're a bit confused here in Melbourne. If the reason for the merger was to go bezerk in Asia then why not tie in the Asian offices? Sounds like they're yanking our chains.
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