Clyde & Co has entered into a new best friends association with New Zealand insurance boutique Fee Langstone.

The New Zealand firm currently numbers five partners and 30 members of staff, who are based in Auckland. It is headed up by partners Philippa Fee and Craig Langstone.

Like Clydes, the firm specialises in insurance, including professional negligence litigation, marine insurance, construction litigation as well as general policy coverage and claims disputes.

As part of the arrangement, the two firms will work together on a referral basis and undertake joint marketing initiatives across the Asia Pac region.

Clyde & Co senior partner Simon Konsta said: “Given the synergies between Clyde & Co and Fee Langstone, this agreement between the two firms will help to strengthen our presence in the region, while providing Fee Langstone with an international platform through the Clyde & Co network.”

Fee Langstone partner Philippa Fee adds: “We are delighted to be entering into this association with Clyde & Co and look forward to providing our clients with access to the international coverage and expertise that a firm such as Clyde & Co offers.”

The Fee Langstone arrangement is the latest association Clydes has entered into in recent months. In November, it entered into a formal association with Malaysia-based firm Shaik David & Co, which operates heavily in the insurance and reinsurance, banking and insolvency, shipping and offshore and general litigation legal services space.

Clydes has continued to open new offices alongside its new associations. Last month, The Lawyer reported that the firm is opening in Bristol, opening up competition for the likes of Womble Bond Dickinson, Kennedys, CMS, Simmons & Simmons and RPC.

The Bristol launch comes with the hire of Ian Peacock and Kennedys London professional indemnity partner John Eastlake, in the second major UK investment since the firm consolidated its UK offering through a Scottish merger with 45-partner insurance firm Simpson & Marwick in 2015.

The firm also has deals on the table with US firm Sedgwick to take on several partners and lawyers from its US base.