Teacher Stern snaps up London firm Butcher Burns

The merger is set to go live on 1 May 2013, with the combined firm continuing under Teacher Stern’s brand. Butcher Burns’ staff will move into Teacher Stern’s Chancery Lane offices and all four of its partners will join Teacher Stern as partners, though none will be on the management team. Butcher Burns has around 14 fee-earners in total.

Teacher Stern practice development head Simon Longhurst told The Lawyer that the two firms had been in merger talks since before Christmas.

“I think we’re very similar practices,” said Longhurst, “We’re slightly larger, but [the two firms] are very similar in the services we offer to our property and dispute resolution clients. Apart from the economic reasons for merging, I think it’ll make us stronger and give us more depth.”

Longhurst added that the firm did not have any redundancies planned in the immediate wake of the merger.

Teacher Stern’s turnover in 2011/12 was £8.5m, up fro £7m in 2010/11. The firm had on average 57 staff, including fee-earners, in the 2011/12 financial year and 21 partners. Average pay for partners was £162,109, up from £92,123 in 2010/11. Butcher Burns’ turnover is not known, and Longhurst declined to comment on what he expected combined revenues to be.