(l-r) Daryl Lansdale, Peter Martyr and Andrew Giaccia.
Norton Rose Fulbright has confirmed that it will merge with Chadbourne & Parke in a deal that creates a firm with combined revenues of just under $2 billion. The combined firm will be called Norton Rose Fulbright, leaving the Chadbourne name behind.
News of the merger talks broke earlier this month. The deal will go live in the second quarter of this year.
The combination creates a firm with around 1,000 lawyers in the U.S., including more than 300 in New York and around 130 in Washington, D.C. Globally it will house more than 4,000 lawyers across 58 offices in 32 countries.
Norton Rose Fulbright posted global revenue of $1.74 billion in 2015, with Chadbourne posting revenue of $249 billion.
The deal represents a second major U.S. combination for Norton Rose following its deal with Texas-headquartered Fulbright & Jaworski in 2013.
“Chadbourne has a proud history, and is known for its world class practices in energy, infrastructure, banking and finance,” Peter Martyr, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global chief executive, said in a statement. “Joining forces with our new colleagues, we can offer our clients significant new capabilities in New York and Washington, D.C. We will benefit from new offices in Mexico City, São Paulo and Istanbul, and we will be able to offer our clients expanded capabilities in London, Dubai, Latin America and other key markets.”
Andrew Giaccia, Chadbourne managing partner, commented: “Our firms share a strategic vision and client focus, and we have highly complementary practice and industry strengths. Following the combination, our global offerings will be virtually unrivalled in many areas, from energy and infrastructure to finance, bankruptcy and restructuring, litigation and regulatory work.”
Sources close to Chadbourne say that the firm had approached firms including Baker McKenzie, DLA Piper and Hogan Lovells to discuss merger options over the last year before settling on a deal with Norton Rose Fulbright.
The firm has seen a stream of partner exits recently, including corporate and project finance partner Margarita Oliva Sainz de Aja, who joined Baker McKenzie last month; a three-partner arbitration team that joined Cooley last December; and bankruptcy partner Douglas Deutsch, who joined Clifford Chance last summer.
Norton Rose Fulbright has grown through a succession of major international combinations. It joined up with Australian firm Deacons in 2010, then in 2011 with Canadian firm Ogilvy Renault and leading South African firm Deneys Reitz. These were followed by a second Canadian tie-up with Calgary’s Macleod Dixon in 2012. More recently, it inked a deal with Vancouver-based firm Bull Housser & Tupper last month.
In November, it was widely reported that the firm held merger talks with Australia’s Henry Davis York.
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