No partners will leave Charles Russell or Speechly Bircham when the two firms merge this November, the incoming management team has said.

Though back office and support redundancies may occur, it is expected that all partners will make the transition to the merged outfit and that the 80 current equity partners across the two firms will all continue as equity partners following the combination, voted through on Wednesday (16 July).

Speaking to Legal Week, Christopher Page, Charles Russell senior partner,and James Carter, Speechly managing partner, both of whom will retain their titles in the new firm, also revealed further details of the merger votes at the two firms.

Some 99% of partners voted in favour of the integration at Speechly, while 98.6% did the same at Charles Russell in yesterday's ballot.

Page said: "It's been building up for six months, so it hasn't taken us by surprise in all honesty. It was as close to unanimous as you can get."

A four to five partner team has been put in charge of integration, focusing on elements like IT systems and HR, and will hold their first meeting this morning (Friday 18 July).

"The top priority for the next three months is making sure we are able to deliver clients the services they expect right from the outset," says Page. "Some of our practice is broadly the same, but within the detail we have strengths that are coming together, and people will take us more seriously now."

"We have got the human side of integration already under way," Carter added. "We need to get to know each other and start bouncing ideas off each other."

Of the four key divisions at the merged firm – business services, litigation and dispute resolution, private client, and real estate and construction – two will be led by Charles Russell partners, and two will be led by Speechly partners.

One of the few consolidations expected to take place will be in Geneva, with Speechly staff likely to move into the current Charles Russell base when the lease on the former's building runs out in September.

The management pair said that the delay in merger, which had initially been expected at the start of the financial year, was due to the practicalities of coordinating 150 lawyers and working on details, as opposed to any unscheduled problems.

The firms have been on the lookout for lateral hires – particularly in contentious financial services and development – but management said it found it hard to make signings during merger discussions.

"One of the problems with a merger is that it makes it difficult to do lateral hires," said Carter. "As from now that blockage comes off."

"Just because we work in some of the same areas does not mean we are over-lawyered. We are always looking for areas we can boost our strength in depth."

"We will work out what the new entity is before we rush into filling gaps which aren't there," Page adds. "But there's no doubt that the new firm will find it easier to attract new people."