US firm Shearman & Sterling has officially terminated its joint venture (JV) partnership with Singapore firm Stamford, ending months of wrangling over the future of the partnership.

The two firms forged the JV – Shearman & Sterling Stamford – in 2001, in a move spearheaded by high profile Singapore lawyer Lee Suet Fern, who had quit the Wong Partnership, at the time the joint venture partner of London giant Clifford Chance.