John Heller, senior partner of Hammond Suddards Edge, has pledged that a merger of the 15 firms that make up the firm’s newly-formed alliance, CLA-Europe, is a long-term possibility.

As revealed in Legal Week (20 July), Hammonds has formed an alliance of European firms drawn from members of the referral network Commercial Law Affiliates (CLA) as its response to client demand for co-ordinated European legal advice.