Irwin Mitchell has set its sights on securing best friends alliances with a group of American class action firms in a move that promises to unite leading claimant firms on both sides of the Atlantic for the first time.

The firm is in discussions with Chicago’s Eimer Stahl Klevorn & Solberg, a seven-partner commercial litigation boutique formed by a group of partners from Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, and is currently negotiating with Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, a Detroit corporate and litigation firm.