Clifford Chance (CC) is to consolidate its 450-lawyer New York practice under one roof after securing a deal to move its Manhattan operations to a new US site owned by Deutsche Bank.

CC will take the space, which hands the London-based giant an additional 27,000 sq ft in the US' legal capital, on a 20-year lease. The site comprises 380,000 sq ft across 14 floors in an office based on 52nd Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue.

The firm is to formally take up the site from September this year, with the expectation it will move its combined New York practice in May 2004 following an eight-month programme to renovate the site.

CC's chief operating officer in the US and Washington DC managing partner Ira Hammerman told Legal Week Global: "We have been studying the idea for more than 18 months and this is an attractive time to make such a move.

"It is an excellent development; with all of their New York [practice] under one roof it will promote teamwork and collegiality," he said.

The deal will see CC combine its three offices in a new location. Its main base is currently off 200 Park Avenue, which the legacy Rogers & Wells has operated from for more than 40 years.

All the lawyers and staff from the firm's two smaller New York branches in 450 Lexington Avenue, which houses some of the firm's antitrust litigators, and a litigation support office on 6th Avenue will also move.

The decision to bring the practice under one roof comes at a key time for CC's US practice, which was rocked in October when a widely leaked memo written by its own associates criticised the firm for aggressive billing targets and lack of partner training and oversight.