Top 20 firm's three-year plan includes expansion in Asia and Middle East and new client programme

Bird & Bird has put international expansion and client relationships at the centre of its three-year strategic plan.

The firm is earmarking Asia and the Middle East as targets for growth, with team expansion and office launches forming key parts of the plan, which will run from June 2011 to 2014.

The firm already has Asian offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, while it launched its first office in the Middle East in May, with a base in Abu Dhabi.

In addition to international expansion, the firm's new client programme was also presented to partners at a meeting in Stockholm at the end of last month.

The programme will see the firm target around 100 clients, with those on the list thought to include major telecoms clients such as Nokia, Deutsche Telekom and Everything Everywhere, as well as banking clients such as Barclays and Santander, for which Bird & Bird won first-time panel appointments earlier this year. It will also include smaller 
mid-tier clients.

Clients will not be told whether they are on the programme, which will see each key client assigned a dedicated team of lawyers tasked with looking at offerings such as value-added services.

Bird & Bird chief executive David Kerr (pictured) commented: "The larger number of clients makes the programme very unusual in comparison to those run by other firms. This reflects the wide spread of clients that we target as a firm, as we are also happy to advise mid-sized and smaller clients.

"The whole idea is that, through talking extensively with key clients and developing relevant tools and innovations, we can then expand this service level to other clients of the firm."

Research from Legal Week published last week (21 July) found that Bird & Bird has seen the largest percentage increase in revenues over the last five years of any law firm in the UK top 25. The firm has seen revenues rise by 121.9% between 2005-06 and 2010-11 to stand at £214.6m.