Pinsent Masons senior partner Richard Foley has said that the firm will move into the US within the next five to 10 years in order to keep its reputation as a major international firm.

Speaking to The Lawyer Foley raised the question of whether a firm can truly be seen as a top international player without a presence in the US and said that there would come a point when Pinsents would have to set up a base in North America.

His comments come nearly a year after rival London based firm Eversheds announced its partnership had voted overwhelmingly in favour of pursuing a US merger. The vote saw 90 per cent of partners opt for pursuing a merger and led Eversheds chief executive Bryan Hughes to “begin looking at the market in earnest”.

It is unknown which US firms Eversheds has approached but the firm has been considering its option in the region for some time after setting up a US strategy group in 2011.

Despite the organisation behind Eversheds’ plans Hughes has said that the firm will take its time in finding the right partner and the merger did not have to be in place before his tenure ends in 2017.

However, it still seems likely that Eversheds will plant a flag in North America long before Pinsents will. Pinsents has no equivalent US strategy group in place and without its own North American office the firm uses a network of domestic law firms.

In a similar strategy Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co is set to merge with Canadian firm Gowlings but denied it was using the combination as a springboard into the US. Instead the firm has said it is planning to use Gowlings’ US clients as a means of referring work to its European offices.

Although Pinsents has yet to enter the US it has expanded its international presence in other regions such as Australia. In July Pinsents opened two offices in Australia and hired King & Spalding infrastructure disputes partner Peter Megens to work within its Melbourne office.

Eversheds and Pinsents could also see themselves competing in Iran as both firms are known to be exploring opportunities in the region. They are among a list of firms looking to enter the country following the news that sanctions preventing firms doing business in the region are set to end.