Linklaters woos Slaughters buddy Nauta with Air France deal

Linklaters is muscling in on Slaughter and May’s relationship with Dutch firm Nauta Dutilh after Air France’s high-profile takeover of Dutch flag carrier KLM.

The deal underlines the shake-up in law firm referral relationships between the UK and the Netherlands.

Although Linklaters has continued to work with De Brauw after the collapse of merger talks two years ago, De Brauw’s historic relationship with KLM – which came to an end after an arbitration ruling last year – would have conflicted the Dutch firm.

Linklaters has now brought in Slaughters best friend Nauta on the Air France-KLM deal, while Slaughters has recently moved to revive its old relationship with De Brauw following the collapse of its merger talks with Linklaters.

For the full story on the Air France takeover, see The Lawyer on Monday.