Lawrence Graham (LG) and Wragge & Co are to merge, with the combined firm set to go live under the banner of Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co from 1 May 2014.

Partners voted in favour of the tie-up this week, with a 75% majority required from both partnerships.

The combination will create a £171m business with 1,300 people, including 770 lawyers, operating from 10 offices worldwide – Birmingham, Brussels, Dubai, Guangzhou, London, Monaco, Moscow, Munich, Paris and Singapore.

The new management structure will see Wragges managing partner elect David Fennell become the firm's chief executive, Wragges current senior partner Quentin Poole remain in his role and LG senior partner Andrew Witts (pictured) take up the position of chairman. LG managing partner Hugh Maule will become a practice group leader and will sit on the firm's board.

Rather than having geographical heads, management will split their time between the firm's two UK offices in London and Birmingham.

The chairman role will be semi-executive with an ambassadorial element, while the CEO will be involved in the running of the business and implementing strategy. As senior partner Poole said he would be focusing on integration and after a certain period the role will be dropped.

By 2015 Wragges will move into LG's More London offices, after break options on leases allow the firm to move out of its City base. In April LG sub-let 20,000 sq ft of surplus space in More London to Bond Dickinson, leaving some excess space.

Management said while the tie-up was expected to create jobs, redundancies would be inevitable where there is overlap. However, the number of job cuts "will not be significant".

The merger will create one of the UK's largest real estate practices, with more than 240 lawyers. Currently 30% of turnover at both firms is from real estate. The firm will also have a focus on equity capital markets, investment funds, private capital, IP, pensions and construction.

One partner at a rival real estate practice commented: "It's not surprising that firms in the mid-market are bulking up but I don't think the merger is going to threaten us in any way. Wragges has good clients and has cut a good niche as a number two to the magic circle. It may be seen as a threat to peer groups of real estate firms for key clients, but not to us – in its simplicity it's LG with an outpost in Birmingham, it's not game-changing."

Another added: "It depends on how they position themselves in London but, objectively, yes they will be more of a threat, although perhaps not immediately. But a merger is always good news, particularly for LG for which it was necessary. Wragges has a good real estate practice and good clients – there may be some opportunities for us in terms of conflicts with clients."

Legal Week revealed that merger talks were taking place between the two firms in November.

LG has had talks with a number of firms in recent years, with discussions with Field Fisher Waterhouse called off last June after the firms were unable to come to an agreement.

Wragges and LG have relatively sizable UK practices – Wragges has 101 partners in the UK, while LG has just under 60 – but there is little overlap internationally. LG has offices in Dubai, Monaco, Moscow and Singapore, while Wragges is present in Brussels, Paris, Dubai and Guangzhou, in addition to an IP-focused base in Munich.

Wragges reported a marginal increase in turnover at the end of the 2012-13 financial year to £120.5m, while profits per equity partner (PEP) climbed 2.7% to £339k. LG has struggled in recent years with revenues falling from £67.5m in 2007-08 to £51.8m this year. In 2005-06 they were the UK's 32nd largest law firm by revenue, turning over £61.1m, but dropped out of the Top 50 altogether in 2010-11.