Norton Rose signs tie-up with Australia's Deacons
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Norton Rose is to merge with Deacons Australia, giving the combined entity a turnover of more than £420m and 12 offices across Australasia.
Norton Rose chief executive Peter Martyr (pictured) will be group chief executive of the enlarged firm, which will trade under the name Norton Rose Group. Deacons’ current chief executive Don Boyd will take on the role of deputy group chief executive while Norton Rose chairman Stephen Parish will be chair of the combined firm.
Although Deacons’ Hong Kong arm, which has offices in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, will not be part of the merger, Martyr said the combined firm will focus on further expansion across Asia. Norton Rose has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Martyr added: “The economic influence in the world is moving eastwards and in order to develop our business we needed a significant expansion in our resources in Asia Pacific.
“The increased capability of the group throughout Asia Pacific will lay the foundations for further regional development and expansion.”
Boyd at Deacons said that Norton Rose’s focus on Asia had been a key driver for his firm in agreeing to the tie-up.
He added: “As soon as the initial discussions were underway it became clear that there was a common global ambition, particularly in the predicted growth markets of the future, namely Asia Pacific.
“We have shared aspirations regarding strategic growth, both in practice area terms and geographic expansion.”
Following the tie-up the firm will have 700 fee earners across Asia, operating from offices in Bangkok, Brisbane, Canberra, Jakarta, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo, as well as in China.
The partnerships of both firms approved the deal, which will take effect at the beginning of 2010, in a vote yesterday.
The news comes months after magic circle firm Clifford Chance broke off merger discussions with Australia’s largest firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques due to the state of the global economy (8 December 2008).
Had the Clifford Chance merger gone ahead, the combined firm would have had over 1,000 lawyers operating in Asia.
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Readers' comments (31)
Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 1:37 am
Better move for Deacons that NR in my view. Deacons are strictly B grade with a client base to match.
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 6:36 am
That's a very useful comment Poisonous Trouser Snake... Thanks for adding such value!!!
I think this sends out a very positive message from NR a firm that has been making a lot of positive headlines over the past few months - If this relationship is successful it will put NR is a great position to capture a lot of work that will be coming out of Asia in the next 10-15 years - Think this is a very good strategic move, and somewhere that the Magic Circle will recognise that they may have missed a trick.
As far as the US tie goes, this may put some pressure on sealing a deal especially as NR's PEP is a not necessarily where it would like it to be for it to be able to secure a meaningful US tie-up - think it will need to address that before it can seriously consider the US market.
All in all some good news for the legal market from NR when everything else seems to be doom and gloom.
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 7:36 am
Norton Rose are just doing what DLA Piper did three years ago with Phillips Fox - now DLA Phillips Fox. It's old news now and I think we 'll see some consolidation in the Australian Market and as the economy recovers more global alliances. As for working with Aussies, I can tell you they are less hard work than their English counterparts and certainly not as snobby!
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 9:23 am
That's a very useful comment Poisonous Trouser Snake... Thanks for adding such value!!!
I think this sends out a very positive message from NR a firm that has been making a lot of positive headlines over the past few months - If this relationship is successful it will put NR is a great position to capture a lot of work that will be coming out of Asia in the next 10-15 years - Think this is a very good strategic move, and somewhere that the Magic Circle will recognise that they may have missed a trick.
As far as the US tie goes, this may put some pressure on sealing a deal especially as NR's PEP is a not necessarily where it would like it to be for it to be able to secure a meaningful US tie-up - think it will need to address that before it can seriously consider the US market.
All in all some good news for the legal market from NR when everything else seems to be doom and gloom.
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Chris | 24-Jun-2009 9:49 am
Interesting comment Poisonous Trouser Snake. Shame it is all the English lawyers getting asked to leave the Dubai firms with their heads hung low, whilst all the Australian lawyers seem to be retaining their positions. Funny that.
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Anon - again | 24-Jun-2009 10:07 am
Well I'm still here trouser snake, as are the vast majority of my antipodean peers....Why would anyone want to work with Australians? Because they are harding working, down to earth and in some case, much better lawyers than their silver spoon british public school counterparts... firing aussies is a cheaper option for some firms, they are seen as less litigous and are likely not to hang around to file claims
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 1:38 pm
So Australians are "harding working" (sic) are they, Anon-again? Ummm. And "less litigous" (sic). No wonder Aussies get a mauling if they can't write coherent sentences!
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 2:03 pm
I think that English lawyers are completely useless - and I'm from the states! I can't believe that Australians are getting criticized in this column.
I have dealt with a couple of the big Australian firms on a number of occasions now and they are invariably better operators than their Magic Circle counterparts. English lawyers should be forced to do a 'seat' in Australia in my lowly opinion.
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jimmy | 24-Jun-2009 2:13 pm
That's a fully sic point bro.
"Coherent"(a): Of thought, speech, reasoning, etc.: Of which all the parts are consistent, and hang well together.
Lucky that english lawyers can differentiate between incoherent sentences and sentences which contain typographical errors.
Note to self, do not make error when making fun of another person's error.
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Anonymous | 24-Jun-2009 2:40 pm
"Lucky that english lawyers can differentiate between incoherent sentences and sentences which contain typographical errors."
Note to self, Jimmy: do not presume that all posters are lawyers, especially English ones! Also, coherent means: "able to make one-self understood"!!! "harding working"...???
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