Withers has entered into a formal alliance agreement with Singapore's KhattarWong, taking on all of the firm's 26 partners in the process.

The two firms will begin offering Singapore, UK and US legal services under the banner of Withers KhattarWong in April.

Withers set up its own practice in the same building as KhattarWong in 2012 with nine lawyers, including six partners, working closely with the firm since.

By teaming up with 70-lawyer KhattarWong, the largest Singaporean firm yet to enter into a formal law alliance, the firm hopes to provide wealth planning, litigation and arbitration and commercial legal capabilities which it feels are "currently not adequately provided in the market".

Away from Withers' traditional reputation for private client work, KhattarWong's also has practices in banking, finance and property, corporate and securities and criminal litigation.

"Singapore is without question the financial and legal centre of South East Asia and has the highest concentration of millionaire households in the world," says Withers Singapore office head Jay Krause. "This alone is enough to illustrate its importance to us, which only stands to increase as other economies in the region reach critical mass and seek to engage more fully with the global economy."

In December, Withers sealed an alliance in Australia with tax firm Balazs Lazanas & Welch and former Blake Dawson corporate partner Justin Shmith called Withers SBL.