The merger that took place at the beginning of this year between City law firm Hobson Audley and US law firm Faegre & Benson LLP was one of only a handful of UK/US law firm mergers that has involved the incorporation of a Great Britain limited liability partnership (GB LLP).
Since 1997, Hobsons and Faegre had operated a separate multinational partnership (MNP) acting as Faegre’s London office, through which Hobsons’ lawyers provided English legal services to Faegre’s clients. The MNP was a UK general partnership, which gave Hobsons and Faegre the opportunity to work together closely and to get to know each other better. After five years of successful operation, it was decided that the next step should be a full combination of both firms’ practices.
