Reed Smith & Richards Butler: Globalization Proceeds Apace

Although the US press doesn't seem to have picked up on it yet, Reed Smith is merging with London's Richards Butler to create a 1300-lawyer firm with annual revenue projected to be $725-million.  Richards Butler is a 75-year-old, top-30 City of London firm with more than 250 lawyers and offices in Paris, Brussels, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi, among other places.

You may recall that Richards Butler was in talks late last year to merge with Proskauer, but no deal eventuated.

The most interesting angle of the deal to my mind is how Reed Smith's Chairman, Greg Jordan, described the rationale:

The anticipated combination is aligned with Reed Smith’s well-developed expansion strategy. “Over the past several years, we have grown from a US mid-Atlantic firm to an international firm with offices on the west coast and east coast of the United States and a strong presence in Europe,” said Mr. Jordan. “This growth has been driven by our need to provide expanded capabilities to our clients. The proposed merger creates a powerful litigation and corporate law firm on both sides of the Atlantic, with a significantly strengthened London platform positioning us for further expansion into Europe and the Middle and Far East.”

And so, with impeccable timing, I'm off to the Globalization Conference.