Integration is a word bandied around a lot in the year following a law firm merger. But rarely is there agreement on the ideal timeframe in which this can be achieved, or indeed on what is the right means to create a so-called "shared culture".

At some firms, post-merger, partners seem unsure of why the tie up has occurred in the first place. But in the case of Squire Sanders and Patton Boggs, there seems to be no delaying.

Having already appointed global practice heads, a board and consolidated industry groups, the firm says it is well on its way to combining IT systems and back office functions, and this week global CEO Jim Maiwurm said the newly merged outfit plans to consolidate its duplicate offices by the end of the year. It will also implement a single compensation scheme by January 2015.

This all seems rather quick for two firms that appear to have little in common and which only recently tied the knot. But Maiwurm says that Squire Sanders' experience taking on these kinds of mergers gives it an advantage. Almost to prove the point, only a few weeks ago Squire Patton Boggs sealed a further financial tie-up with a local outfit in Japan.

"We are already better integrated than some law firms," explains Maiwurm. "There was a good strategic reason to put these law firms together and they are acting on that. Our goal is to do the best we can. We are already seeing opportunities that neither firm would have seen had they remained separate."

The key part of the process, as usual, is to bring people together. But unlike other firms, Maiwurm says there are no plans for a formal, global secondment programme. Instead, the firm will focus on informal meet-ups and incentivising partners to work as a team.

"We want people to be able to talk to each other, but it's a mind-set. It depends whether it is your mind-set to take advantage of opportunities around the world or just focus on your own little corner. So it is about getting people into the right mind-set."

Equally, he says, it takes a certain type of thinking among management to ensure all-round success. "I think it takes on both sides an interest in responding to changing market conditions in the industry, recognising that you can't accomplish everything you want on your own, and having the courage to sell that to your partners."

But as the Washington-based partner will know, finalising a merger isn't always so simple. For Squire Sanders, it first had to contend with rival bidder Dentons, whose offer to buy Patton Boggs was described by its chief executive Elliott Portnoy as a "serious overture", and then just a week before the merger was finalised it emerged that Patton Boggs was embroiled in a fraudulent misconduct claim with oil-giant Chevron. Squire Sanders subsequently suspended voting until the case was settled, reportedly to "do right by the partnership and consider the risks".

Asked if the Chevron dispute could have changed Squire Sanders' decision to go ahead with the tie-up had it not been resolved, Maiwurm is reluctant to comment. "I'm not going to speculate, that is a hypothetical question. But it was something that we looked at."

And Dentons? Squire Sanders was just a better fit, he says.

"It was a very good fit geographically, culturally and in terms of practices. And we were able to move with some degree of speed. Over the last four or five years we have spent a lot of time expanding in Europe and Asia. It was time to focus on North America."

Likewise, Squire Sanders had a solid Asian and European practice which Patton Boggs needed to take advantage of the Middle East.

As for next steps, Maiwurm says the immediate focus is – unsurprisingly – on integration. But surely Africa is on the cards, as a region which is proving to be popular with other global outfits and has connections to the firm's key regions of the Middle East and Asia?

"Africa is interesting," Maiwurm concurs. "We have no specific plan to do anything in the near term, but it is the ultimate emerging market. Long term it could very well be in our plans."