The biggest US merger of recent years looks set to be finalised by next month as it emerges that Morgan Lewis & Bockius has already voted in favour of a take-over of California giant Brobeck Phleger & Harrison.

US lawyers have told Legal Week that Philadelphia-based Morgan Lewis has now voted in principle in favour of the merger, while Brobecks partners are slated to vote in a matter of weeks in a deal that would effectively end the independence of one of California’s top technology specialists.