Global law firm Clyde & Co and UK-headquartered law firm BLM have agreed to a merger following a vote in favour by partners at both firms, which is due to take place in July.
The combined entity will be known as Clyde & Co and together will have a global revenue of over £700m per annum, a headcount of over 5,000, with offices in over 60 cities worldwide.
BLM is a UK and Ireland law firm focused on insurance risk and commercial law with a particular strength in casualty, personal injury, healthcare and professional liability.
The law firm will become part of Clyde & Co’s market-leading global insurance practice which provides advisory and dispute resolution services to insurers and their clients, including almost every top 20 insurer in the UK, and leading re/insurers globally.
The majority of its lawyers will join its Casualty insurance practice, with other sizeable groups joining professional liability, healthcare and business advisory teams.
Carolena Gordon, Clyde & Co’s Senior Partner, says: “We are delighted the merger has secured approval from both sets of partners. At Clyde & Co we are always focused on growing and developing our offering for the good of our clients and our people and this merger does exactly that. BLM has highly talented people and outstanding client relationships and we are excited by the potential of this combination.”
Matthew Harrington, BLM Senior Partner, says: “We are looking forward to the opportunities combining both firms will bring for our people and our clients. This merger is one of aligned approaches and values, offering huge benefits to our clients in the areas that matter most.
“Combining our expertise will strengthen our market offering in the UK casualty, healthcare, and professional liability space, with true operational excellence and the agility to respond rapidly to the changing needs of the market.”
James Cooper, Clyde & Co Partner and Chair of its Global Insurance Practice Group, says: “We have long sought to increase the scale of our UK casualty insurance practice though a merger so we can provide the full scope of services, technology, data analytics and innovation that clients in this dynamic part of the market require.
“Once we started speaking to BLM we quickly realised that we shared the same approach to client service, had a complementary client roster and similar ambitions in this space. This combination will also boost our regional UK presence and strengthen our healthcare and professional liability offerings too.”
Chris Murray, Partner and Head of Casualty at Clyde & Co, says: “This is a really exciting move for us and our clients in the casualty space. It is such a fast moving and innovative part of the insurance market and combining with BLM will allow us to invest even more in the technology and innovation that our clients are asking for.
“We will also have the ability to harness the largest data set in the market to provide invaluable MI and data analysis to clients. But crucially, it is a merger founded on a shared approach to quality and client service and that will remain at the heart of our offering.”
Clyde & Co recently launched a new online platform and suite of innovative digital tools to help insurers speed up the handling of their casualty insurance claims with the aim of delivering the lowest overall indemnity spend to clients.
The new product offers cutting-edge technology and AI for claims automation backed by the firm’s lawyers, which complements BLM Innovations, a suite of online analytics, case management and communications tools, which the firm first launched in 2019.
