Andersen Legal’s Scottish member firm Dundas & Wilson has braced itself for independence, despite widespread expectations that the leading Scottish firm will throw in its lot with another accountancy-tied network.

Speculation has been rife over the firm’s future since the non-US arms of its accounting parent, Andersen, last week entered merger talks with KPMG, which itself this month signed up Dundas’ bitter rival, McGrigor Donald, for its KLegal network.