Midlands firms Shakespeares and Harvey Ingram are set to merge with effect from 1 September, creating a combined firm with £50m turnover.

The two firms, which will employ over 800 lawyers and staff, will have 12 offices across the Midlands and Home Counties including Birmingham, Leicester and Nottingham.

Following the tie-up, the firm will trade as Shakespeares, apart from in Leicester where it will initially trade as Harvey Ingram Shakespeares, and in Solihull which will trade as Wood Glaister until April 2013 following a previous merger last year.

Shakespeares' chief executive Paul Wilson will take on the same role across the merged entity, while Harvey Ingram senior partner Stephen Woolfe and his Shakespeare's equivalent Mark English will be joint senior partners.

Simon Astill, previously managing partner at Harvey Ingram, will be the firm's director of risk and compliance.

Wilson commented: "This is a highly significant deal for both firms and it will position us for growth in a shifting legal marketplace."

The firms initially announced their intention to merge back in May, with the tie up expected to go live on 1 August this year.

The deal marks Shakespeares' sixth merger in five years and means the firm will achieve the £50m turnover target it set out in 2009 ahead of its 2014 schedule. It merged with Birmingham outfit Putsmans in 2007, followed in 2010 by tie-ups with Berryman in Nottingham and Needham & James in Stratford‐upon‐Avon and the Cotswolds. Most recently it combined with two property firms, Wood Glaister and Gorrara Haden, last year.

Shakespeares reported a turnover of £29.6m for 2011-12, with Harvey Ingram understood to have revenues of around £19m.

Related: