Eversheds has tightened its links with its Baltic allies, with its affiliated firms in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all becoming full members of Eversheds International.

The offices became members of the firm at the beginning of this month (1 April), less than a year after signing up as allies last June.

As full members it means the trio will be represented on Eversheds' international board and will be able to vote on firmwide issues, with each country gaining one vote. However, they will not be financially integrated with Eversheds.

The firms have also changed their names, putting the Eversheds brand at the start of their names.

The move, which makes them the first international members to do this, means they are now known as Eversheds Ots & Co, Eversheds Bitans and Eversheds Saladzius in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania respectively. The agreement comes as Eversheds sees growing demand for advice across Eastern Europe, which has been less affected by the current credit squeeze.

Alan Jenkins, Eversheds chairman and head of international, said: "The transition from affiliates to full associate status shows the harmonious way the offices work together, which has exceeded all expectations. A sign of this is that referrals across Eversheds International were up by 20% this year."

The majority of Eversheds' Baltic turnover is generated through work with foreign companies, including clients such as Oracle, Siemens, Volvo and Solvay Pharma.

The move adds further scale to the UK giant's expanding foreign network, which opened offices in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the last six months. Most recently, Eversheds launched in Switzerland after forming an association with local outfit Schmid at the beginning of January.