Beachcroft and Davies Arnold Cooper (DAC) have frozen their trainee recruitment processes indefinitely as the duo gear up to complete their merger later this month.

The firms have decided to delay their usual trainee recruitment activities until a decision has been made about how recruitment will operate at the combined firm, which is set to go live on 31 October.

The news comes after both Beachcroft and DAC scaled back the number of graduates due to start at their firms in 2013 by around 75% to reduce the risk of any trainees being adversely affected by the merger.

The merger will create a combined firm with turnover in excess of £175m and around 230 partners working across seven offices in the UK as well as bases in Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Spain.

A Beachcroft spokesperson said: "Our training contract recruitment process is currently on hold until after the merger and until after we realign both processes.

"We will therefore not be attending law fairs this year or opening our application system until we have a structured process and plan in place."

The firms announced last month that they have identified international expansion as a key element of their combined strategy, with Latin America singled out as a priority for growth.

One key strategic goal for the merged firm's first year is to strengthen DAC's existing Mexico office, with management also planning to create an international board to look at further expansion across Latin America, as well as potential launches in other key insurance markets such as Hong Kong.