US firm Kramer Levin has agreed to merge with Rogers & Wells' Paris office following its decision not to take part in the Clifford Chance (CC) Rogers & Wells merger.
The merger will give 21-year-old Kramer Levin its first foreign office. The new five-partner Paris office will provide the firm with a platform for its substantial corporate finance practice to tap into the lucrative European market.
Despite developing a large IP department with the backing of a new media and Internet technology group, Kramer Levin is still not in the top 100 US firms in terms of turnover.
Kramer Levin sources said that the merger was driven by important French banking clients and was a direct response to the threat of globalisation following the CC Rogers & Wells merger.
It is understood the two parties already had strong ties because a number of Kramer Levin partners used to work for Rogers & Wells in New York.
The Rogers & Wells Paris office has dual capability. Only one partner, John Stevenson, is from the US, while just three of the office's 16 associates are US citizens. The managing partner Alexander Marquardt is understood to have been opposed to a merger because he was unwilling to give up the freedom he was allowed by Rogers & Wells.