Bryan Cave and Squire Sanders & Dempsey are in merger talks, Legal Week can reveal, in a move that would create a 1,600-lawyer national heavyweight with revenues topping $800m (£456m), as US law firm consolidation looks set to storm into 2006.

The two firms have been in discussions since the autumn, with a combination representing a rare “merger of equals” as both the St Louis-based Bryan Cave and Cleveland-based Squire Sanders have around 800 lawyers each, and roughly equal revenues.