“Following detailed discussions between the management and partnerships of Withers and Speechly Bircham, both sides have now concluded that a merger would not be in the best interests of both firms and have agreed not to pursue this further. The talks have enhanced the respect that both firms have for each other,” a spokesperson for Withers said in a statement.

Michael Lingrens, senior partner at Speechly Bircham, said in a separate statement that both sides in the talks separately concluded they wanted to “pursue independent paths”.

“For Speechly Bircham, that means continuing our strategy of developing our well-established commercial and private wealth practices in an increasingly international context. We have recently opened an office in Zurich as part of our focus on international private wealth, and growth in the funds and tax work of our Luxembourg office has just led us to move to larger offices there,” Lingrens said.

“We intend to open a third office in a major European location this autumn, with a significant team hire. The office will be focused on providing corporate and tax services to a commercial client base in line with the profile of our other offices. The firm’s management team is already well advanced in developing our independent strategy for the next three years,” he added.