David Pollitt

DAC Beachcroft has entered into a four-way alliance with insurance-focused law firms in Germany, Australia and the US.

The alliance, dubbed Legalign Global, sees the UK firm join forces with Germany's BLD Bach Langheid Dallmayr (BLD), US firm Wilson Elser, and Wotton + Kearney in Australia.

The alliance will focus on three main areas – insurance coverage, insurance defence and insurance regulatory and compliance – and aims to cater to the increasingly multinational insurance market.

Between them, the four firms have more than 2,000 lawyers across the UK, US, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

DAC Beachcroft managing partner David Pollitt (pictured), said: "This is a fantastic move for all four firms. We are proud to be a Legalign founding member and excited about the opportunities this arrangement will bring to our clients and to our people in the coming years."

The four insurance firms have been operating in the same circles for many years. But last summer, the two European firms approached Wilson Elser about formalising an alliance between them. That culminated in a Munich meeting in late September, which got the project off the ground.

"We quickly realised that we had so many similarities in the problems that we're addressing, our approach to those problems and our core philosophies as businesses," said Wilson Elser chairman Daniel McMahon. "It gained immediate momentum."

New York-headquartered Wilson Elser sits just outside the Am Law 100 rankings by revenue, posting revenues of $309m (£248m) in 2015. The firm has almost 800 lawyers in 30 offices across the US.

DAC Beachcroft is the 21st largest UK-headquartered firm by revenue, with 2015-16 revenue of £201.6m and profit per equity partner of £358,000.

BLD has more than 150 lawyers and offices in Cologne, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin and Karlsruhe.

Wotton + Kearney, meanwhile, has more than 120 lawyers in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. All of its lawyers focus on insurance work, handling claims and coverage issues across the commercial insurance sector.

Additional reporting by Meghan Tribe.