By Richard Tyler
Clifford Chance (CC) is understood to be in preliminary merger discussions with leading Wall Street firm Rogers & Wells in what would be the first major transatlantic merger between a UK and US firm.
The talks complement negotiations with Australia's leading finance firm Mallesons Stephen Jacques, the existence of which were revealed last week by Legal Week, and a top German firm, believed to be leading Frankfurt firm Boesebeck Droste.
Clifford Chance's international partners flew into the UK last weekend to meet their London-based colleagues at a west London hotel for the firm's annual partnership meeting.
It is understood that the partners did not vote on any of the negotiations, although they did come under discussion.
But sources close to Clifford Chance said that the partners would approve any recommendation put to it by the firm's three-man management team.
However, there are already reports of some disquiet among Rogers & Wells partners who are unhappy at their firm being taken over.
Rogers & Wells is New York's 13th-largest firm with 427 lawyers worldwide. It has the second-largest litigation practice in the city after Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, is a market leader advising underwriters to real estate investment trusts and has a respected capital markets team, which regularly advises Merrill Lynch.
Last year, the firm generated average profits per partner of $645,000 (£403,000), according to The American Lawyer magazine, similar to average profits at Clifford Chance.
One of the biggest barriers to a US-UK link up historically has been the difference in profits between senior partners at the top US firms and those in the UK.
Sources suggested that Clifford Chance could have gone for a larger US player, but that a merger with Rogers & Wells would still put the City firm way ahead of its rivals and would be easier to manage.
In Germany, Clifford Chance is slipping behind Linklaters and Freshfields in the race to build up a local law capability.
Partners at the firm's Frankfurt and Duesseldorf offices are believed to have renewed preliminary discussions with Frankfurt-based firm Boesebeck Droste, which were put on hold last summer.
Tony Williams, Clifford Chance's managing partner, declined to comment on any merger talks. But he said: "In 1999 we are continuing our international development. Corporate and financial institutional clients are looking for top quality legal relationships across a number of countries."
Daniel Bushner, managing partner of Rogers & Wells' 20-lawyer London office, said: "We don't comment on discussions we have with other law firms until there is something more substantive."