When Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling partners voted overwhelmingly to back the trans-Atlantic tie-up that created A&O Shearman one year ago this week, few would have predicted what was to come.

At the time, Shearman senior partner Adam Hakki described the union as “creating a new industry leader, with truly global capabilities,” adding he was “excited for what is to come.” What he and the other leaders didn’t say was that, inevitably, some tough decisions were ahead, including office closures, discontinuing business lines and cutting around 80 equity partners.