Top management roles confirmed; 15% of Barlows partnership to leave ahead of tie-up

Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and Clyde & Co have approved the largest-ever merger between two UK law firms, with the combined firm to operate under the Clyde & Co banner when it launches later this year.

The merger is set to go live on 1 November. Clydes senior partner Michael Payton and chief executive Peter Hasson (pictured) will retain their existing roles in the combined firm, with Barlows chief executive David Jabbari set to take up a new post as chief operating officer.

Barlows senior partner Simon Konsta will not initially take on a management position at the combined firm, but will be handed a seat on the board alongside Jabbari and one other Barlows partner still to be named.

Around 15% of Barlows' 100 partners have been asked to leave the firm before the union goes ahead, of which the majority are understood to be from the firm's equity rank. It is believed that the bulk of these partners are in the firm's reinsurance and corporate departments.

The merged firm will have 270 partners, with all of Barlows' remaining partners set to join the partnership at Clydes. It is expected that partners with at least five points on Barlows' 12-point ladder will join the senior equity, with the remainder joining the junior equity rank. Those Barlows partners joining the merged firm will be tied into a three-year lock-in period, during which they will have to pay a financial penalty should they decide to go.

The merger creates an insurance leader, with more than £300m in combined revenues, more than 1,250 fee earners and 2,250 total staff operating from 27 offices worldwide. In addition to insurance, the firm will also cover sectors including aviation, marine, trade energy and infrastructure.

No lawyer redundancies are expected as a result of the tie-up; however, it is understood that back-office staff cuts at Barlows are under consideration. For the time being the firm will operate from two offices, with Clydes set to move into the new St Botolph Building next door to Barlows next month. Teams will be integrated between both buildings.

In a statement, the firms said that they will explore ways of maintaining the Barlow Lyde & Gilbert brand to "recognise its status in areas such as professional liability and catastrophic injury".

Hasson said: "Given the positive reactions from both our partnerships and the market, we are now in a position to move forward vigorously. We have immense respect for the partners, lawyers and staff at Barlows, whose practices complement rather than duplicate those of Clydes. We look forward very much to working together to create a new firm that offers the very best of both."

One partner from a rival insurance firm said: "I can see that at the end of the day they will have an operation that is better than Clydes was and better than Barlows was.

"However, I do think a lot of people don't really understand why Barlows wasn't fixable on its own. It was a good firm with some very good practice areas and I get the feeling that somebody was in a rush to do something more quickly than was perhaps necessary."