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Fifteen Law Firms Announce Alliance; Fourteen European Nations Impacted; Commercial Law Affiliates Network Forms First-Ever Alliance

Business Wire, July 19, 2000

Business Editors\Legal Writers

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 18, 2000

Entity to be Europe's Twelfth Largest Legal Provider

Commercial Law Affiliates (CLA), the world's largest network of independent full-service commercial law firms, today announced a new initiative likely to have permanent impact on global legal practice.

CLA's 15 European law firm members will form a seamless alliance to provide clients one-stop shopping for legal services throughout the Continent and Great Britain. At the same time, these 15 firms, based in 14 different countries, will retain independence as separate entities.

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The alliance encompasses 1250 lawyers, making CLA Europe now the twelfth largest legal service provider on the Continent in total lawyer numbers (see attached "Top Firms List").

The alliance ties together member firms in a significantly closer cooperative venture. No longer just an arrangement to exchange referrals, member firms now address client matters together and deal directly with each other's clients. They act together in cross-border working groups established by practice area, and through programs for common standards of service delivery, exchanges of lawyers between firms, and compatibility of technology platforms. It is the first time any law firm network has ever taken the step of combining members into such a close, unified alliance.

Because each of the firms maintains financial independence, the 1250 lawyers in the 15 firms therefore gain many of the tangible economic and professional benefits of a multi-party, international law firm merger without incurring the constraints, costs and administrative overhead associated with conventional full mergers.

This "third way" is an innovative response to a European market undergoing a rapid and aggressive process of realignment, merger, and consolidation. It is client- and market-driven rather than simply expansionist. Compared with law firm mergers and MDPs, the alliance is a profound example of the changing nature of the legal profession worldwide, as providers seek new ways to deliver services in a world of corporate globalization, rapid law firm expansion, and competition from accounting firms and other multidisciplinary practices.

CLA Europe will now offer single-point service for cross-border legal services--one of the fundamental differences in how this new entity functions compared to networks. CLA Europe's primary practice areas include Banking and Finance, EEC Law, Intellectual Property and Information Technology, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Tax.

For European law practice, CLA Europe is the latest in a series of revolutionary developments--from the abolition of multi-city office restrictions in Germany, to the merging of European and non-European law firms.

Among the immediate goals, CLA Europe is streamlining cross-border practice groups in M&A and finance. Joint marketing to corporate clients has begun.

As a law firm network, CLA carefully oversees the quality and consistency of service provided by member firms. With CLA Europe, practice management is unified and affiliation-wide, as it would be at a superior single law firm.

CLA Europe's governance is provided through a six-member Management Committee composed of five members from the European firms and CLA's Executive Director. The Committee is chaired by Jean-Francois Adelle, partner, Bignon & Lebray (France) who coordinated the strategic deliberations which resulted in the formal protocol establishing the alliance. The other members are: John Heller, senior partner, Hammond Suddards (UK), which will be named Hammond Suddards Edge (following its 1 August merger with edge ellison); Andre Lombart, partner; Buyle Dieryck Van Looveren (Belgium); Marco Nicolini, partner, Studio Legale Tonucci (Italy); Christoph Schmid, partner, Wenger & Vieli (Switzerland), which will be named Wenger Vieli Belser (following its 1 September merger with Belser Altorfer & Partner); and Wendy Horn, CLA's Executive Director.

The alliance is supported by a head of administration in Brussels with the title CLA Managing Director Europe, who acts independently of member firms and reports to the Management Committee. The position is held by Michael Faulkner who has previously held senior management posts in both the international governmental sector and the European legal industry.

Jean-Francois Adelle, speaking in his capacity as CLA Europe's Management Committee Chairman, comments: "Europe is a natural place for a regional alliance within a global organization simply because that reflects in the legal industry the fantastic trend of economic and business consolidation visible throughout the continent.

"Rooted in CLA's stringent quality control policy, the alliance will expand our member firms' cross-border capacity through a homogeneous single service. Its common signature will increase our market recognition and we will retain the accessibility and quality that have made our national firms successful." . John Heller, senior partner at Hammond Suddards Edge says: "Europe is leaning to so much cross border work, particularly in high tech. If you show clients you can service them across Europe, you will obviously increase your business."

Business Services Industry

Fifteen Law Firms Announce Alliance; Fourteen European Nations Impacted; Commercial Law Affiliates Network Forms First-Ever Alliance

Business Wire, July 19, 2000

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