Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP has officially launched today, April 3. The Partnerships of both Bryan Cave LLP and Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP overwhelmingly approved the combination on Feb. 26. The new global, fully integrated law firm has 32 offices in 11 countries and a platform of 1,600 lawyers, placing it among the largest in the world and enabling it to significantly enhance the scope of services provided to its clients. The new firm is led by Co-chairs Lisa Mayhew and Therese Pritchard.

Clients of the combined firm will have access to broader and deeper legal services across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Asia, including in many of the world’s leading markets. The new firm offers clients a range of internationally integrated capabilities, including one of the most active global M&A practices*, world’s leading real estate practices, largest international financial services practices, and strongest international litigation and corporate risk practices.

The firm will act for 53 of the world’s top 100 companies** and is poised to provide innovative services and products to clients through a combination of technology and experience. Combined, this experience ranges from providing world-class legal advice to delivering operational advice and support to in-house legal teams, with services that will continue to be optimised using process, data analytics and technology. During the first six months, the firm will combine and grow the legacy BCXponent and Streamline brands, which were designed by each of the firms to integrate legal operations into its advisory framework, and it will grow legacy technology offerings, such as the proprietary technology platform CrossLITE. The new firm also will launch new products throughout 2018, including new automated contract negotiation software and a unique technology-driven case analysis product, to help clients mitigate litigation risk. The combined firm additionally will show a demonstrable commitment to fostering innovative ideas among employees on new legal technology, via its TechX initiative and Business Academy, to empower its teams to continuously improve services.

“Creating Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has been a fantastic journey for us all,” said Lisa Mayhew, co-chair of the firm and managing partner of legacy BLP. “Our firms have come together with a commitment to serve our clients as one team.”

“Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner is well positioned to provide global strategic counsel to our clients across industries and geographies,” said Therese Pritchard, co-chair of the firm and legacy chair of Bryan Cave. “Our integrated structure is designed to institutionalise and reward collaboration across our global platform.  Our lawyers are already creating cross border client and industry teams, and in so doing, they are discovering new synergies that will enable broader efficiencies for our clients.”

Integration plans among practice groups and administrative functions have been ongoing for several months. The firm will be organised under four global departments: (i) Corporate, (ii) Finance, (iii) Litigation and Corporate Risk, and (iv) Real Estate led by the following:

Corporate

• Global Departmental Managing Partner – Peter Van Cleve, St. Louis
• Deputy Departmental Managing Partner – Jonathan Morris, London

Finance

• Global Departmental Managing Partner – Adam Dann, London
• Deputy Departmental Managing Partner – Laurence Frazen, Kansas City

Litigation and Corporate Risk

• Global Departmental Managing Partner – Christine Cesare, New York
• Deputy Departmental Managing Partner – Nathan Willmott, London

Real Estate

• Global Departmental Managing Partner – Chris de Pury, London
• Deputy Departmental Managing Partner – Andrew Auerbach, New York
• The firm has also appointed two Senior Partners:
• Robert MacGregor, Senior Partner for EMEA
• Bill Seabaugh, Senior Partner for the Americas