Allen & Overy’s planned merger with Shearman & Sterling would blow away the UK-founded firm’s recent stateside ambitions while also posing the tricky task of transatlantic integration.
Allen & Overy has already doubled its US partner count to 100 in roughly two years. More than half of its 10% firmwide revenue growth last year came from the US. The firm was plotting further growth, with ambitions to add 50 more US partners after it opened offices in key markets including Boston, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles.
Its proposed merger with Shearman, a 700-lawyer New York firm known for a ...