City partners have had a largely positive reaction to news that Lovells and Hogan & Hartson are in early stage talks about a transatlantic tie-up.

Legal Week revealed last Thursday (8 October) that the pair are in initial merger discussions, with Lovells' management set to consider the proposed union at a meeting of its international executive later this month (28 October).

The union, which would create a top 10 global practice in revenue terms, with turnover of around $1.9bn (£1.2bn), would bring together strong litigation and regulatory practices.

It is understood that with the majority of Hogan partners on similar remuneration to those at Lovells, the City firm could modify rather than scrap its lockstep in order to go ahead with the combination.

The London managing partner of one US firm said: "It looks pretty clever, if they can pull it off. For any non-US international firm to find a fit is going to be difficult, but at first glance the fit between Lovells and Hogan appears to be a good one – it's an arresting move."

Tim Strong, a litigation partner and Asia strategy partner at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, commented: "Lovells is very well balanced with good litigation and, typically, US firms have strong litigation practices. My suspicion is that this isn't driven by the downturn."

However, the firms will face significant challenges if they do decide to go ahead, given the troubled history of US/UK merger bids. Howard Morris, chief executive of Denton Wilde Sapte, said: "This is a most interesting combination, but only a few firms have been successful in setting up US networks."