Clifford Chance (CC) is poised to ditch the names Rogers & Wells, Puender and Grimaldi from its various regional titles and adopt the single brand of Clifford Chance across the globe.

The highly symbolic move, which sounds the death knell for three of the better known names in international law, signals another step in CC's drive to become the first top-tier global law firm.

Although no specific date has been set for the name change, CEO-elect Peter Cornell told Legal Week the firm would be called Clifford Chance everywhere "by the end of the summer".

Currently, like many City firms that have forged international mergers over the past five years, CC has different local names worldwide to reflect the deals it has forged.

In the US it is known as Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells (CCR&W), in Germany, Belgium and Eastern Europe it is called Clifford Chance Puender and in Italy it is called Grimaldi Clifford Chance.

The US and German titles follow CC's historic tripartite merger in January 2000 with Rogers & Wells and Puender Volhard Weber & Axster, while the Italian name came into being in January 2001 when CC merged with Grimaldi e Associati.

Thomas Gasteyer, a partner at Clifford Chance Puender and deputy chairman of CC's partnership board, said of the decision to drop the Puender name: "The original merger agreement did not state a date, but we did anticipate the unification of the names."

The decision to unify CC's global network under a single brand comes hard on the heels of its dramatic incursion into the US's West Coast last month when it hired 21 partners from Brobeck Phleger & Harrison, including former chairman Tower Snow.

However, dropping the Grimaldi name in Italy comes at a difficult time for the firm's Italian practice following the departure of name partner Vittorio Grimaldi, four other partners and 26 lawyers.

It is believed that the decision to drop the Grimaldi name was made before the defections, which was caused by a disagreement over the degree to which the practice should conform to CC's management model.