The upper echelons of the global legal market are becoming increasingly populated by a new breed of law firm: the Swiss verein. Almost every major cross-border law firm merger of the past three years has used this corporate holding structure, which allows participating members to join forces while retaining their existing forms as separate financial and legal entities.
Norton Rose isn't the first law firm to convert to a verein. Baker & McKenzie and DLA Piper made the switch earlier, while Hogan Lovells, King & Wood Mallesons, Squire Sanders, and Dentons have also used vereins to expand. But under global CEO Peter Martyr, Norton Rose became the firm that most aggressively exploited the structure to achieve its strategic ambitions. With what global cochair Steven Parish describes as "incredible vision and a real eye for detail," Martyr has completed no fewer than five verein mergers in the past four years to engineer a remarkable turnaround for the firm.
