IT-related strategy issues have emerged at the top of the agenda for the firms involved in two large-scale, cross-border mergers, one aimed at creating a medium-sized transatlantic partnership and the other with the objective of creating a pan-European super-firm.
The union of UK-based Freshfields and Germany's biggest firm, Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Lober, was announced on 20 June and is scheduled to take place on 1 August.
The new firm is aiming for full economic integration from day one and will have 30 offices housing about 1,800 lawyers in 19 countries worldwide.
The merger involves integrating two large-scale IT systems and must take account of the multilingual nature of the new firm.
Freshfields' commitment to cutting-edge technology is seen by many in the industry to be at odds with the conservative, traditional approach of Bruckhaus.
"The integration of our IT systems is a key priority for the merged firm and we have already started work to resolve various issues as quickly as possible," said David Hamilton, IT director at Freshfields.
To meet the goal of complete financial union by 1 August, most of Bruckhaus' 141 partners are being slotted directly into Freshfields' lockstep.
The complexity and sheer size of the merger means the two companies' IT departments had to start preparing for the move a long time in advance.
"We've obviously been looking at the IT-related implications of the merger for several months, identifying the issues before implementation," said a Freshfields spokesperson.
Meanwhile, the transatlantic merger between London-based law firm Titmuss Sainer Dechert and its long-time US partner, Dechert Price & Rhoads, was announced on Monday 26 June. The move involves the integration of US and UK IT know-how on a large scale.
Since 1994, Titmuss and Dechert have been linked by an alliance involving a significant two-way flow of information between the two firms. "We've known each other for a long time and technically the two companies represent a reasonably good fit," said John Rowland, IT director at Titmuss Sainer Dechert.
He added that he has been looking at virtual private network (VPN) technology since the merger was agreed, to enable direct sharing of documented databases between the two practices.
But the US firm uses a far more advanced intranet system than Titmuss and this will be implemented by the UK practice. In return, the US offices of the new firm will benefit from work carried out by Titmuss into extranet activities. This work will relate directly to the implementation of the new joint-documented database.
"We've known about the merger for some weeks and have been involved in some joint projects," Rowland said. "For instance, we have been working on document templates to support the new branding, which will have to be in place from day one."
The next stage for Rowland and his Philadelphia-based counterpart, Mike Shannon, is to extend the compatibility of practice management systems and to check each other's security provision.
According to Rowland, a considerable effort is going into rationalising the differences in security regulations between the UK and the US.
Shannon and Rowland expect to remain in charge of IT in the US and Europe respectively, with neither assuming overall responsibility.