CMS members' same name aim

At the end of 2007 all the talk within the CMS network was about a full-blown Deloitte-style integration. However, many in the CMS family seemed less than keen on dropping their colourful surnames to promote such a union.

Indeed, in some places, such as France, it is understood that Bureau Francis Lefebvre enjoys far greater brand recognition than CMS. In other jurisdictions too, Adonnino Ascoli & Cavasola Scamoni, Albiñana & Suárez de Lezo, DeBacker, Derks Star Busmann, Erlach Henrici, Hasche Sigle and Reich-Rohrwig Hainz seem to roll off the tongue more easily than CMS.

CMS director of brand marketing Peter Sommer acknowledged that losing some local firms’ names would have been “counterproductive”.

But after watering down the initial proposals, ultimately all nine CMS firms came happily together and agreed on more referrals and more aggressive promotion of the CMS brand when pitching for work, as revealed on www.thelawyer.com (12 February).

One day, people on the streets of Paris might recognise the CMS brand after all.