CMS to complete Moscow merger by year-end
CMS Cameron McKenna and its European network have begun integrating operations in Russia and are on track to operate as a fully merged firm in Moscow by the end of the year. The firms confirmed that work towards a full Moscow merger - comprising lawyers from Camerons, German ally CMS Hasche Sigle and French member CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre - is now underway, with working groups set up to handle issue such as joint accounts and an integrated IT system.
June 23, 2008 at 10:58 AM
3 minute read
CMS Cameron McKenna and its European network have begun integrating operations in Russia and are on track to operate as a fully merged firm in Moscow by the end of the year. 
The firms confirmed that work towards a full Moscow merger – comprising lawyers from Camerons, German ally CMS Hasche Sigle and French member CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre – is now underway, with working groups set up to handle issue such as joint accounts and an integrated IT system.
It is understood that several issues still need to be worked out ahead of the merger, including how profits from the merged operation will be split between the three firms.
The merger has been in planning stages since February when partners voted for further integration. Until now the firms, which have around 18 partners between them in Moscow, have operated as three standalone practices.
The integration is being overseen by Camerons head Duncan Weston (pictured) as well as the heads of the individual alliance firms and the Moscow managing partners.
David Cranfield, who leads Camerons' local operation in Moscow, told Legal Week the target was to complete the integration by the end of the year, but added: "It will effectively be a three-way merger, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do. We need to get it right and don't want to push it together too quickly."
The three firms have already increased cooperation in Moscow and the 100 plus lawyers from the firms are currently preparing to move into a new building in the City. The new office is currently being fitted out, with the phased move planned for the latter part of the year.
Cranfield added: "We are increasingly seeing ourselves as CMS in Moscow, despite working as three firms.What we would be doing with a merger is to reflect that and to make it work much more effectively and efficiently for our clients."
The Moscow merger is likely to be seen as a trial run for other locations where several CMS firms operate in the same City. CMS executive partner Robert Derry-Evans said the firm is already looking at a similar structure for Shanghai.
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