CITY FIRM Druces & Attlee has created a 12-firm international alliance and named it Druces International.
Under the new alliance, the 18-partner firm will be joined by 11 similar or slightly smaller-sized practices from Albania, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Switzerland. The group is also looking for firms in Denmark and Italy.
All firms in the group will operate under the Druces International name. Michael Pearson, the London partner who helped set up the group, said Druces & Attlee had spent the past 12 months hand-picking continental practices.
He said firms were found through partners' individual contacts and recommendations from overseas business clients. “Some of our Belgium and Norway clients recommended law firms who we found to be first-rate,” he said.
Pearson added: “We formed the international group because we have clients that increasingly need Europe-wide legal help but we are not Clifford Chance so we can't go around opening up offices.”
“We also wanted more than just a network. This is a federation although it is not yet profit or fee-sharing. We look upon it as a single entity rather than a loose association. The firms involved will all work for the benefit of mutual clients.”
Druces & Attlee is also a member of the International Business Law Consortium – an association of 55 firms.
