Paris and Abu Dhabi. These—we learned earlier this month—are the locations in which A&O Shearman’s two most senior leaders will be based once the firm launches in May.

For a merger between a predominantly U.S. and a U.K. firm, this is significant. It definitively puts to rest any lingering notion of A&O Shearman as a ‘Magic Circle’ firm in the conventional sense, with many in the industry believing the the moniker has now become redundant.