“It is a matter of being a king in a small pond or an important fish in a larger pond,” says Michael Oppenhoff, senior partner of Oppenhoff & Raedler in the wake of last week’s partnership vote in favour of full financial integration with Linklaters & Alliance.

From 1 January, 2001, Oppenhoffs will certainly be an important fish in a much larger pond, both in the size of its international partnership and the fact that it will now bask in a much larger pool of equity.