The chances of Arcon becoming Berwin Leighton Paisner's (BLP's) German ally look dead in the water after the German firm last week announced its shock decision to split into three.

The 80-lawyer independent firm is to splinter on 1 January 2005 as a result of "different strategic views", although BLP has not ruled out forging an alliance with one of the remaining practices.

BLP managing partner Neville Eisen-berg told Legal Week: "[Arcon's] position as a potential alliance partner is up in the air. However, we will now look into developing a relationship with the three separate firms and assess their capability in relation to our needs.