Firm considers how to fund new offices ahead of Fulbright tie-up

Norton Rose is in the early stages of looking at how to fund expansion into new regions, as it gears up for this June's merger with US outfit Fulbright & Jaworski.

The firm, which already operates a shared account across Norton Rose Group to cover central costs such as IT, finance, branding and research and development, is looking at how the cost of new launches can best be shared between different parts of the business.

At present, each of the four partnerships within the Norton Rose Group verein – Australia, Canada, South Africa and the UK and international LLP (which covers Europe, Asia and the Middle East) – is understood to contribute less than 3% of its respective turnover to the central cost pool; a figure that has remained static since its 2010 tie-up with Australia's Deacons.

While no formal proposals have yet been drawn up, options could include increasing the amount of money put into the central pot, or a more flexible structure that would see who pays for any new offices decided based on the location.

This could mean launch costs covered by only one or two different parts of the firm, rather than the firm as a whole.

Norton Rose chairman Stephen Parish (pictured) said: "The thing about our structure is that there is flexibility. It is possible, for example, to contemplate an arrangement whereby a new office could be 'owned' by more than one member firm rather than just one.

"For example, an office in Brazil could have more relevance to Canada and the US, who might see it as an obvious next step, so a launch there could be sponsored by two or three member firms. We have a lot of possible options."

In the months leading to the Norton Rose Fulbright merger, decisions will be made on practice group heads, global executive committee members and duplicate office space.