Squire Patton Boggs and Addleshaw Goddard held preliminary talks last year regarding a merger, according to five people with knowledge of the matter.

Two former Squire partners were among those who said discussions regarding a potential transatlantic tie-up took place in the latter half of 2018. But people at both firms responded that they are not currently in merger talks.

A former Squire partner said that a merger "would give Addleshaws the US platform it wants – whether it's worth it for them to go through the hassle of integrating the two firms is something they'll need to decide".

"It would have been a painful merger," another added. "There is so much overlap between the two firms' practice areas."

Both Squire and Addleshaws have offices in London, Leeds and Manchester.

Addleshaws' merger talks with US firm Hunton & Williams petered out in 2017 after two years of discussion. The firm has since been the subject of numerous other rumours, though no further steps towards a tie-up have emerged.

In April 2018, Squire's global managing partner Stephen Mahon relocated to London to take over from Robert Weekes as head of the City office.

Weekes returned to fee-earning work for a short time before joining US firm Crowell & Moring as its new London managing partner, and has since brought several Squire partners over to work with him at Crowell.