Bird & Bird seals Danish merger as part of new growth phase

Bird & Bird’s CEO David Kerr described the move as part of “a new phase” of growth at the firm that was likely to result in a number of additional offices in the next few years.

“We’re working on quite a few things at the moment, it’s a new phaseof further development we’re going through,” said Kerr. “We’re quite positive about the opportunities out there.”

The UK firm has had a strategic cooperation agreement with BvHD since 1 January 2012, a deal that expanded its north European network, which includes offices in Finland and Sweden as well as several in Germany 26 January 2012.

“The cooperation agreement worked really well,” added Kerr. “It allowed us to get to know each other, integrate the people at both firms and align ourselves over the period of the agreement. It should be a very smooth migration from cooperation agreement to full merger.”

Kerr said that BvHD, a 19-lawyer, nine-partner firm would be fully financially integrated into Bird & Bird.

“We’ll follow the structure we’ve used in every other country, it works really well,” added Kerr.

BvHD is best known for technology, media and telecoms (TMT) work as well as public procurement and disputes advice. It acts for Danish clients across the TMT sectors, Danish municipalities and other public entities, as well as for international clients.

The new Copenhagen office, the firm’s 24th, means Bird & Bird will have a presence in Denmark, Finland and Sweden, three of the most advanced knowledge economies in the world.