The Lawyer newspaper reports that the UK founded, but New York-headquartered consultancy is currently in the advanced stages of negotiating a deal with the 100-lawyer firm, with which it already shares a strategic alliance relationship.
The merger is expected to see the German law firm rebranded as Deloitte, although reports suggest the Germans are keen to keep their name, even if only for a transition period.

Fully integrated

A source close to the firms told newspaper: ‘Once they’re fully integrated into Deloitte, they will become more or less an in-house legal department. They’ll be asked to help the tax people with M&A work. As far as transactional work within mid-cap M&A, they’ll probably disappear from the market.’
The source added: ‘I don’t think Deloitte will accept having Raupach in the brand name.’
Deloitte and Raupach have both so far declined to comment.