Linklaters is pushing for closer integration with its South African alliance partner Webber Wentzel by smoothing out client conflict issues, targeting common clients and aligning the two firms' sector groups.

The firm is investigating the possibility of holding joint pitches for clients alongside Webber Wentzel to augment the referral relationship that currently exists between the two.

Linklaters is also scrutinising potential conflict issues following the alliance deal, which took effect from February 2013. Though the firm says that it has not run into many conflicts so far, it says that there is scope to win more clients by taking a closer look at where they might arise.

Before the tie up, Linklaters and Webber Wentzel had jointly acted on a number of deals including ICBC's acquisition of a controlling interest in Standard Bank of South Africa and Vodafone's acquisition of a controlling interest in Vodacom, the South African mobile operator.

Webber Wentzel has also begun to set up sector groups that mirror Linklaters' own structure, while the two firms are building stronger ties between their respective sector leaders.

"Meetings at Webber Wentzel and Allens are really quite similar to ours," said Linklaters global corporate head Matthew Middleditch. "It makes you feel at home almost. We just find there's an awful lot of common ground between us."

The magic circle firm, which has Africa group partners across its London, Paris and Lisbon offices, is trying to pull together its African offering to better manage in-bound investment into the continent.

Linklaters went through a similar integration process with its Australian alliance firm Allens, which mirrored the magic circle firm's sector set up across its business following the 2012 tie-up.

When Linklaters signed the alliance deal with Allens in 2012, the pair teamed up on joint client pitches, shared resources and co-operated in recruitment and training, as well as establishing a joint venture in Asia covering energy, resources and infrastructure projects work.

However, as Legal Week reported earlier this month, Allens is now scaling back its operations in Hong Kong, China and Singapore to focus on Indonesia, Vietnam and Mongolia, with the firm saying it remains committed to the energy-focused joint venture.

After its deal with Linklaters, Webber Wentzel lost its full member status with the Africa Legal Network, instead becoming an 'associate' of the 11 member group.

Despite rumours that this put a strain on the two firms' relationship, London corporate head Stuart Bedford told Legal Week that all South African work still goes through its alliance partner and that the two firms' leaderships work closely together.

Representatives from Allens and Webbers are normally present at Linklaters' partner meetings, he says, and next week Bedford will be attending a private equity strategy meeting with key players at the South African firm.

Bedford also recently met with Webber's management team after the firm announced David Lancaster would pass the senior partner role to corporate head Christo Els next March, creating a new managing partner position for corporate partner Sally Hutton.

Though both the Webber Wentzel and Allens tie-ups were sold as exclusive arrangements, Linklaters clients are still free to mandate other firms in both jurisdictions should they wish.

"With both Webbers and Allens it's all about client preference anyway," explained Middleditch. "The client might say they want to use [King and Wood] Mallesons, or whoever, because their relationship is with them."