Two of the largest law firms in the UK that work in areas including private client work – Speechly Bircham and Charles Russell – have officially merged.

Two of the largest law firms in the UK that work in areas including private banking – Speechly Bircham and Charles Russell – have officially merged, taking on the new name of Charles Russell Speechlys.

The firms both voted in favour of the merger in mid-July, as previously reported here.

The new firm has 170 partners, a total of 500 lawyers and revenues of £135 million. The combination creates a top 30 UK law firm that combines a pre-eminent private wealth practice with a significant business law capability, it said in a statement over the weekend.

The combination of these firms comes at a time when other parts of those firms dealing with high net worth individuals, such as private banks, have also seen M&A activity to exploit benefits of scale, particularly in the face of more complex client demands and rising regulatory cost burdens.

The statement from the newly-merged firm says it “provides advisory, transactional, regulatory and contentious services to major corporates, privately-owned businesses and wealthy individuals”.

”It has significant strength in the real estate and construction sectors, transactional expertise across the financial services sector, and specialist employment, intellectual property and commercial teams advising in sectors such as healthcare, retail, leisure, sport and TMT. What distinguishes the new firm is the strength of its commitment to private wealth. The merger reinforces the firm’s ability to advise wealthy individuals, family offices, private banks and wealth managers and large, privately held businesses seamlessly,” it said.

The firm is headquartered in London, and has a network of offices in European and Middle East wealth management centres, as well as relationships in the US, Africa and Caribbean.