If approved by a vote of partners at both firms, the tie-up would be one of the largest law-firm mergers in recent years and result in a firm with around 3,900 lawyers across 49 offices worldwide.
Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, which will be called A&O Shearman for short, "will be the only global firm with U.S. law, English law and local law capabilities in equal measure," the two firms said in a joint statement. They said the deal will give Allen & Overy greater access to the U.S. corporate client base of Shearman & Sterling, which in turn would benefit from A&O's global reach.talks over a tie-up with transatlantic firm Hogan Lovells.