Ashurst wants a transatlantic merger. This is nothing new. Many partners at the London-based firm still refer to Latham & Watkins as “the one that got away,” after a proposed merger collapsed within days of completion in 2000. Less than four years later, Ashurst tried again, this time with New York’s Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. Those talks also failed, as did an approach to Magic Circle member Clifford Chance in 2000.
Now Ashurst finally has an international merger under its beltalthough not with a U.S. firm. Last September, the 850-lawyer practice became the latest international entrant to pile into the superheated Australian market by announcing a tie-up with Blake Dawsonan 800-lawyer firm with revenue of around $400 million. The two firms combined their Asian operations in March with a view to a full global integration in 2014, creating a 1,700-lawyer giant with revenues of around $850 million. That’s more attorneys than Sidley Austin, and revenue comparable to those of Bingham McCutchen and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.
