In a market characterised by its insularity, September 2006 may in future years be regarded as something of a turning point for Norway.

The country was this month adjusting to the presence of its first genuinely international firm after confirmation that the local arm of DLA Nordic was to finally come under the banner of its parent, transatlantic giant DLA Piper.

The widely-trailed agreement sees one-third of the former DLA Nordic become the Norwegian arm of DLA Piper, while the Swedish and Danish offices will continue to operate under the DLA Nordic brand in the short term, at least.

The 90-lawyer practice, which boasts offices in Oslo and Bergen, becomes the latest addition to a sprawling DLA Piper network numbering more than 3,000 lawyers across Europe, Asia and the US.

Oslo-based real estate specialist Espen Moe takes on the new role of regional managing partner for DLA Piper in Norway and also takes a seat on the firm's European committee of regional heads.

"It has been our goal since 1997 to become part of a global law firm," he explains. "We have been getting closer for years. Being part of an international network definitely offers advantages and we wanted to be able to offer our clients offices in several countries. By doing this, we hope to attract good companies and good lawyers."

DLA Nordic was previously known as Lindh Stabell Horten and was formed in 2001 by the three-way merger of Swedish firm Lindh, Norwegian outfit Stabell and Danish firm Horten. In so doing, the firm became the first legal adviser to feature offices in all three of those jurisdictions before expanding its horizons further with the agreement to take on a role as the local alliance member of DLA Group in 2004.

The 200-lawyer firm began trading in Norway and Denmark under the banner of DLA Nordic in May that year, with the Swedish arm of the practice following suit the next month.

"Other law firms in Norway have allies but they do not seem to be thinking about mergers," adds Moe. "They have good businesses in Norway [and] they are scared of losing control of their business. I think that is short-term thinking."

DLA Piper has trumpeted the ground-breaking nature of the move, which took effect on 1 September following a partner vote, as signifying the first full merger between a major overseas commercial practice and its Norwegian ally.

However, with question marks still hanging over the extent to which DLA Piper has integrated the UK and US halves of its transatlantic network, it remains to be seen how closely aligned the practices have truly become.

Meanwhile, internal discussions continue over whether the Swedish and Danish arms will themselves enter the fold in due course.

"It could be next year, five years or 10 years," says Moe, whose own evident enthusiasm for the move will not be dampened by such speculation.

"We are lucky in Norway that our oil income means there is lots of money around, with companies and people looking for investment opportunities," he says. "Real estate in particular is popular, but it is difficult to find assets."

OC and Danders signal new directions in Denmark

While DLA Piper was celebrating a new phase in its relentless march across the globe, UK firm Osborne Clarke (OC) last month found itself facing a reverse in the Scandinavian market as its Danish ally signalled its desire for independence.

The southwest leader secured its entry to the market in 2000 when local practice Pedersen & Jantzen joined a network that has since grown to take in some 16 jurisdictions.

Thanks to the tax and regulatory issues that have proved a familiar obstacle to integration between international firms and practices across the Nordic region as a whole, full integration between OC and its Danish arm was never achieved.

With both parties citing strategic differences – albeit from radically contrasting perspectives – the break-up was inevitable. Danders & More has subsequently been launched, the new firm comprising three partners and more than 20 other fee earners.

"The fact is, over time we have developed our own plans in London and New York," says Danders managing partner Anders Hansen. "Our clients – investment banks, private equity funds – are not the sort of clients that would normally use OC."

Danders, which does some litigation work alongside its core business of corporate finance, now intends to concentrate on developing its domestic and international client base, with the US and UK the primary targets for over-seas work.

"The Copenhagen market is fairly small in terms of firms that investment banks would use and people get conflicted out all the time," says Hansen. "Even for the big law firms in Copenhagen, their transactional practices are not much bigger than ours. We will not grow for the sake of it… not if that means launching a new area such as insolvency, for instance."

He adds: "We do not see the need to open up in Stockholm or anything like that. We aim to service our clients in Copenhagen, London and New York and want to build close relationships with the right firms in those jurisdictions."

Hansen cites Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and White & Case as firms with which the firm has developed links, while Danders has also worked with other major advisers including Los Angeles duo O'Melveny & Myers and Latham & Watkins and elite Wall Street firm Cravath Swaine & Moore.

He also points to magic circle firm Allen & Overy as one UK outfit with which his team had developed links, although those abruptly disappeared with the OC tie-up.

Similarly, Marc Pierre Stehlin – chairman of the OC Alliance and Paris-based founding partner of Stehlin & Associes, the firm which provides the French component of the OC network – also sees opportunity in the split.

He argues that the parting from OC's Danish ally has cleared the way for the network to develop its presence in the broader Nordic region as a whole.

"We have had a very close relation-ship… but it is true that in the development of the alliance questions arose as to how to best service that part of the Scandinavian area," he says. "We had been approached by a number of Scandinavian firms and many of those we were interested in had offices in Denmark, which was preventing us from going forward. The situation came to the point where [the Danish partners] foresaw the possibility of us moving in that direction. This has given us an opportunity to move on."

Stehlin says the OC alliance is now in talks with a handful of Scandinavian practices which can offer the network access to all the major jurisdictions in the region.

"Most of the large firms in Sweden and Norway have offices in Denmark too," he observes, "which would have created a problem with our Danish friends."

Roschier beds down in Sweden

Roschier Holmberg has had a good year, proving that newcomers in the Stockholm market from across the Gulf of Bothnia can too succeed in the Swedish capital. Since the Finnish firm announced the opening of its Stockholm office on 1 October last year with the bold hire of rated M&A partner Axel Calissendorff from top Swedish firm Mannheimer Swartling, the firm has been pulling in the instructions.

In a market that is well known for a lack of lateral hires, having Calissendorff as part of the Roschier team meant Cederquist's Lars Johansson and Ola Ahman joined late last year, as well as a partner from Roschier's Helsinki office, Ulf-Henrick Kull. The office now stands at 16 fee earners in total, of whom five are partners; highly-rated private equity specialist Jens Bengtsson joined the firm as a partner from Linklaters at the beginning of 2006.

Looking at the Mergermarket M&A statistics for the last 12 months (deals announced between 1 September, 2005 and 31 August, 2006) the impact Roschier has made on the market is clear. A glance at the list firms advising on Swedish deals in the past year puts Roschier Holmberg in ninth place in the deals-by-volume table, with 11 deals done with a value of €2.1bn (£1.4bn). This contracts with 14th place the previous year, with nine deals with a value of €1.3bn (£868m).

Considering the firm's office did not open until October last year, the ranking is good going and will be welcome news for Roschier's management, who have invested a lot in the Swedish base.

Calissendorff is believed to have brought across most of his clients from Mannheimer, meaning that London's Slaughter and May is mulling a switch of its allegiance, from having Mannheimer as its Swedish best friend to Roschier. However, Slaughters does not have exclusive allies in Sweden, having regularly worked with local firm Gernandt & Danielsson in the past.

Meanwhile, Swedish independent Cederquist has built up its fledging European Union (EU) and competition practice, taking rival Vinge's only Brussels partner, Olle Rislund with the brief of developing the practice.

The practice currently boasts one partner, Mats Bendrik, and four associates. Rislund is due to join the 60-lawyer firm as a partner and head of the firm's EU and competition practice next month.

With the strength of the media and telecoms industries in Sweden and more broadly in Scandinavia, the firm sees competition as a growing area of advice for Swedish clients.