The first of the so-called ‘magic circle’ law firms to open a WA office, Allen & Overy, has announced a trans-Atlantic merger with US equivalent Shearman & Sterling.
The first of the so-called ‘magic circle’ law firms to open an office in Perth, Allen & Overy, has announced a trans-Atlantic merger with US equivalent Shearman & Sterling.
The amalgamation was announced late last week after the combined 800 partners of both firms overwhelmingly voted in favour of the deal. Both firms had previously failed to make other US-UK matches stack up.
A&O Shearman, as it will be called, claims to be the only firm fluent in “US law, English law and the laws of the world’s most dynamic markets in equal measure”.
At first glance, the merger is unlikely to make significant waves in WA, given Shearman & Stirling does not have a presence here or elsewhere in Australia.
Western Australia is home to six Allen & Overy partners, including the two founding Perth partners, Meredith Campion and Peter Wilkes, who left Clayton Utz to establish the firm’s local presence in early 2010.
Another founding partner, Geoff Simpson handed over the role of Perth managing partner to David Jenaway this year, having been in the leading position since joining Allen & Overy. Mr Simposon stepped away from Allen & Overy in May.
The local opening in 2010 occurred simultaneously with a Sydney office launch and marked the first presence in Australia of a ‘magic circle’ firm, a term describing the five most prestigious London-headquartered multinational law firms.
Corporate consultant, oil and gas Asia Pacific, Angus Jones, also joined the Perth partnership in 2010, leaving Allens Arthur Robinson. He stepped down as a partner in 2018.
The move more than 13 years ago heralded a wave of international law firm arrivals in response to the increasing global importance of WA’s resources sector.
A year later, Clifford Chance became the second of London's elite law firms to move into the Australian market, announcing a merger with Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe as the WA component of another Perth-Sydney double beachhead.
Allen & Overy has 43 legal professionals in WA, which will become part of the expanded partnership with almost 4,000 lawyers across 48 offices.
Last year it opened a second office in Perth, for its Advanced Delivery – Legal service which provides staff for cleints across the globe from both Perth and Belfast, Northern Ireland.
