The new alliance will see the two firms exchange referral instructions and collaborate on marketing, business development, diversity and pro bono initiatives. According to Bond Dickinson managing partner Jonathan Blair, the alliance advances a seven-year close working relationship between the two firms: ‘This agreement allows Bond Dickinson to introduce our clients to a law firm that mirrors out culture, our focus on delivering an outstanding client experience, and our dedication to our people. It provides our clients with support into the US, just as it gives Womble Carlyle’s clients support into the UK market,’ said Mr Blair in a statement to The Lawyer.

Firm match

Headquartered in North Carolina, Womble Carlyle is the 88^th largest law firm in the United States by headcount. In 2015, the firm has 494 lawyers spread across 15 offices in the United States, with a particularly strong presence in the country’s south-eastern and mid-Atlantic states. Bond Dickinson is the 34^th largest law firm in the United Kingdom, emerging in 2013 through the merger of Bristol-headquartered Bond Pearce and Newcastle-headquartered Dickinson Dees.

‘Not a merger’

Speaking to Legal Week, Mr Blair was keen to emphasise that the link-up between the two firms was not a prelude to a merger, but rather a ‘challenger model’ for the way law firms do business across the Atlantic. ‘I want to be clear that it isn’t a merger and putting in place something that leads to a merger isn’t the objective, the objective is to service clients in the US and UK,’ he said.