Mishcon de Reya has forged a ‘strategic combination’ with tech-focused Cambridge firm Taylor Vinters in a bid to extend its reach into ‘the innovation economy’.

The unusual arrangement, announced ahead of Mishcon's planned IPO, will see Taylor Vinters rebrand as MDR Taylor Vinters, complementing other separately branded Mishcon offerings, including MDR Lab, which invests in legaltech start-ups.

The two sides will continue as separate entities with the intention of ‘ultimately’ operating within the same group structure, suggesting Taylor Vinters could be acquired by Mishcon once it has floated with the arrangement serving to add to Mishcon's attractiveness to investors pre-float.

The deal is the latest in a run of transactions involving top 200 UK boutiques – last December London technology specialist Kemp Little was snapped up by Deloitte and in April corporate boutique Memery Crystal was acquired by RBG Holdings, the parent company for City law firm Rosenblatt, for £30m.

Taylor Vinters has offices in Cambridge, Oxford and London with revenue of £21m in its 2019/20 financial year. Its 30 partners and 123 other lawyers completed more than 160 venture funding rounds in 2020 and supported around 25% of seed stage equity funding in the UK, according to the firm.

Mishcon executive chairperson Kevin Gold described the tie-up as “the culmination of years of thinking about how best to develop our business in the innovation space”. 

He added: “In our many conversations with Taylor Vinters this year, it was obvious that we share the same values as well as strategic business vision.”

Ed Turner, managing partner of Taylor Vinters, said that combining the businesses “enables us to accelerate our strategy and means we are able to invest and develop our core capabilities, retain and attract talent and innovate in our service delivery for clients”.

Longer term the firms intend to establish the MDR Innovation Hub, which will bring together MDR Taylor Vinters with Mishcon's MDR LAB and its legaltech consultancy MDRxTech.

Mishcon confirmed plans to go public earlier this month after proposals to go ahead with a listing on the London Stock Exchange were approved by at least three quarters of the partnership, in a deal that could value the firm at £750m.

In the same week, the firm also unveiled its MDR Solutions I litigation fund created in partnership with Harbour Litigation Funding. which will see the parties allocate £150m to finance potential claims.