Bond Dickinson has entered into a strategic alliance with US firm Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.
The transatlantic alliance has been formed off the back of a long-standing relationship between the two firms, which supported clients in the UK and US.
Bond Dickinson managing partner Jonathan Blair said: “This agreement allows Bond Dickinson to introduce our clients to a law firm that mirrors our 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.”
The alliance will see the two firms exchange referral instructions and will also work together on marketing, business development, diversity and pro bono initiatives.
Blair added that the firm had worked closely with Womble Carlyle for many years to support Bond Dickinson’s clients in the UK and national clients in the US.
Womble Carlyle CEO Betty Temple said the alliance would “serve as a catalyst to grow our global skillset”.
Bond Dickinson’s turnover grew 7 per cent last year, from £99.6m to £106.4m. According to The Lawyer’s UK 200 report Bond Dickinson’s largest practice area is corporate, which has 45 partners, with its next biggest practice being litigation and arbitration, with 33.
Womble Carlyle is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and according to data from The Lawyer’s new Global 200 report, has 15 offices across the US including a 28-partner office in Washington DC.
The firm turned over $290m in 2015 and has a total of 290 partners and almost 500 lawyers in total, placing it 147th in the Global 200 rankings. More than half of its partners focus on litigation work and corporate is its second-largest practice area.
The alliance is the latest attempt by UK firms to break into the US market. In February it emerged that Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) was in merger talks with US heavyweight Greenberg Traurig. The merger would have created a £1bn firm but the deal was eventually called off in March due to cultural reasons.
Addleshaw Goddard is also understood to be in merger talks with Virginia-based Hunton & Williams. Should the merger prove successful it would create a £535m firm.