Chadbourne sticks to London plan after WFW talks fail

US firm Chadbourne & Parke is continuing its programme of expansion in London despite the collapse of merger talks with Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) at the end of last year.

The energy-focused firm is taking another 1,000 square metres of space at its London base to make room for a doubling in size of its 45-lawyer London team.

Managing partner Claude Serfilippi did not rule out a future merger, but said: "The thought is that right now our organic growth is going gangbusters. We want to be significantly larger than we are."

Chadbourne's London operation has been growing steadily over recent months. Last December, for example, it snared three project finance partners from Berwin Leighton Paisner.

Serfilippi said one of the benefits on Chadbourne going it alone was greater control over its hiring policy.

"When you merge with a firm you take in the good, the bad and the ugly. We can really cherry-pick the particular skill sets we need."