Reed Smith and Richards Butler vote in favour of merger

The partnerships at the UK’s Richards Butler and US firm Reed Smith last night voted to confirm the merger between the two firms.

Both votes were carried with an overwhelming majority. Between 98 and 99 per cent of the partnerships voted in favour of the merger.

Richards Butler needed just two-thirds to vote in favour while Reed Smith needed 75 per cent.

Reed Smith’s managing partner Greg Jordan said: “The merger makes London our largest office and results in more than 20 per cent of our business being conducted in Europe.”

The combined offering, which will go live on 1 January 2007, will have over 1,300 lawyers with combined revenue of around $750m.