Bond Pearce and Dickie Dees agree to combine as Bond Dickinson
Partners at Bond Pearce and Dickinson Dees have voted in favour of a merger, creating a £95m firm.
Jonathan Blair
The merger, which was voted through by partners at both firms today (7 December 2012) will go live on 1 May 2013. The new firm will be called Bond Dickinson, and will have eight offices across Aberdeen, Bristol, Leeds, London, Newcastle, Plymouth, Southampton and Tees Valley. As part of the deal, the firms will move into larger offices in London.
Dickinson Dees managing partner Jonathan Blair will become managing partner of the combined firm, while Bond Pearce chairman Nick Page will be its chairman. Bond Pearce managing partner Victor Tettmar and Dickinson Dees senior partner John Marshall will serve on the senior management team at Bond Dickinson.
In a statement, Blair said, “As we said when we announced our discussions, both firms had clearly articulated strategies. Our merger is a major step in the delivery of those plans and our new scale will give us the strength in depth and sector insight to support our clients’ growth plans. The merger will give us a strong base for further growth and lateral recruitment.”
News of the tie-up talks between Dickinson Dees and Bond Pearce first broke in September (12 September 2012). For more analysis on the merger, click here.
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Readers' comments (37)
A lawyer | 7-Dec-2012 3:03 pm
Great match! Wish them all the success!
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 3:56 pm
Best of luck Dickie Dees. Top 50 status must be getting closer every day well done guys!
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 4:17 pm
Fantastic news. The end of Dickinson Dees is now in sight.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 4:40 pm
This is great news and well done to DD. A fantastic strategic move that will catapult DD into the top flight of regional powerhouses making it the undisputed premier law firm in Newcastle upon Tyne and Teeside. Congratulations to Mr Blair and Mr Marshal for great leadership and having the courage and vision to lead this sleeping giant of a law firm out of its slumber and into the modern professional advisery world. We know some within the ranks will not be happy at such a significant shakeup but very best wishes from all of us at Ward Hadaway.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 4:49 pm
"Our merger.....will give us the strength in depth and sector insight to support our clients’ growth plans" What a load of meaningless gobbledegook? What on earth does that mean exactly? This is what Dibb Lupton Alsopp, Booth & Co and other regional firms were bleeting on about 15 years ago. Who was it that suddenly sounded an alarm at DD?
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 5:01 pm
Let's not forget that in the 1990s Dickinson Dees was a top 30 law firm.
It's (largely) the same people who today are toasting the merger, who oversaw the firm fall to a paltry 58th place.
I really hope I'm proved wrong, but I predict that from 1 May 2013, Bond Dickinson will begin a slow decline down the UK rankings.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 5:21 pm
I think this is good news. I own a fleet of high tech ice cream vans and we have just expanded into Wallsend. If we decide to expand into Bristol I would definitely use this company.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 5:28 pm
I think it's a real shame that Dixon Dees will no longer be identified with the North East and Middlesborough. It is a great brand and synonomous prestige, quality, integrity.
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Paul Gilbert | 7-Dec-2012 5:31 pm
...Always a load of work putting deals together and always important to think that real people affected so hopefully jobs assured too...but focus on top table roles smacks of expediency not strategy...not so much ground-breaking as a bit of hoe-ing
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 5:32 pm
Pleased to see the partners decide to stop using the name Dickinson Dees. For the last few years it has carried negative connotations, especially in the North East. Maybe now they'll also ditch the absurd "Leading law firm" tag?
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 5:44 pm
The subtext is "We were both desperate to merge".
You can almost hear the sigh of relief from partners in Bristol and Newcastle.
It'll be interesting to see how they go about their "efficiency savings".
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 5:53 pm
They should have continued to plough forwards with their previous strategy to be the biggest and the best in Newcastle, Teeside and York. They could have cleaned up all along the East coast and let's face it - nobody else spotted that gap in the market! They could have gone on to Skegness, Southend and even all the way down to Brighton. Now they're just doing what everyone else has done. But 20 years too late.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 6:17 pm
I am a client of Dickinson Dees and we think they will really benefit from their increased scale and it will be great for their strength in depth. I know they have struggled with sector insight into our business but now they will be able to support our growth plans with much more thinking out of the box by pushing the envelopes. I love their blue sky thinking and we'll definitely run this up the flagpole to see if we can get more bang for our buck out of this merged combination. You can never have too much strength in depth and sector insight. Best of luck. South Kenton Corner Shops Lts.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 6:24 pm
I work as a solicitor in DD and I think this is a very interesting development. The associates at DD can look forward to some great secondments to our new offices and likewise Bond Pierce associates will be able to spend time in Middlesbrough. I heard on the internal grapevine that this was the deal clincher for BP.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 6:40 pm
Will they continue with their quaint tradition of always having a member of the Dickinson family on the letterhead?
Or will those corporate tyros from Bristol try to force the Geordie Gentlemen to adopt a more meritocratic approach to partner promotions?
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 7:25 pm
Amazing Fact: Even after this merger, the new firm will have less solicitors than Dickie Dees had on its books in 2005.
The statistics can be found at http://www.thelawyer.com/firm-profile-dickinson-dees/115309.article
The key difference here is that the solicitors will be distributed across a larger area, which is why this merger looks like a good move.
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Anonymous | 7-Dec-2012 11:49 pm
Wow. That's a lot of senior management positions for a firm of that size. Do they really need them all?
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Anonymous | 8-Dec-2012 10:05 am
What does a self proclaimed 'leading law firm', do when it doubles in size?
I suggest 'leading law firm (x2)' Bond Dickinson. It's no more silly than what Dixon Dees have been doing in recent years.
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Anonymous | 8-Dec-2012 10:25 am
Anon at 6.24 pm
You're probably right. The "internal grapevine" no doubt also made it clear that potentially having to work with up themselves juniors with a basic sense of humour nearly derailed the whole thing for Bond Pearce (with an "ea").Thankfully for us, they obviously had the fortune not to come across you in the lead up to this being announced.
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Anonymous | 9-Dec-2012 5:40 pm
RIP Dickinson Dees (1975-2013).
Not many will mourn its passing.
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