Associates at Norton Rose started checking their visa options and packing their sunglasses this week, after the firm announced it would be merging with Aussie outfit Deacons. Well, sort of merging - the two firms will keep their profits separate.
The merger is due to take place in January, just in time for the Australian summer. So that will involve a few barbeques and some nice cold Fosters, right? After all Deacons' own lawyers praised the firm for its laid back attitude in RollOnFriday's Australian Law Firm survey. Although they didn't seem quite so keen on its offices outside Melbourne and Sydney - one lawyer commented that an ongoing problem was having to care "what the hillbilly arseholes in the Perth office say, do or think". So that bodes well for inter-hemisphere relations.
Still, it's a great coup for Norton Rose which will become the first firm in the City to complete an Australian merger. Which should at least make recruiting Aussie lawyers to spend a couple of years in London a bit easier when the recession comes to an end.
The firm's Chief Executive Peter Matyr commented that the merger would allow the firm to expand its Asia-Pacific ambitions and would "lay the foundations for further regional development and expansion". It's not known what his views are on lawyers who play the banjo and grow mullets.
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The merger is due to take place in January, just in time for the Australian summer. So that will involve a few barbeques and some nice cold Fosters, right? After all Deacons' own lawyers praised the firm for its laid back attitude in RollOnFriday's Australian Law Firm survey. Although they didn't seem quite so keen on its offices outside Melbourne and Sydney - one lawyer commented that an ongoing problem was having to care "what the hillbilly arseholes in the Perth office say, do or think". So that bodes well for inter-hemisphere relations.
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Some hillbillies react to the news of the merger |
Still, it's a great coup for Norton Rose which will become the first firm in the City to complete an Australian merger. Which should at least make recruiting Aussie lawyers to spend a couple of years in London a bit easier when the recession comes to an end.
The firm's Chief Executive Peter Matyr commented that the merger would allow the firm to expand its Asia-Pacific ambitions and would "lay the foundations for further regional development and expansion". It's not known what his views are on lawyers who play the banjo and grow mullets.