Another top tier Australian law firm has confirmed it’s on the merger chopping board, but is the rush to be global really about clients?

In the past two years a string of Australian law firms and groups of partners have joined global brands, often citing the demand of clients for seamless integration as a key factor for the move. However, amongst the in-house legal advisers ALB spoke to an integrated one-stop-shop is anything but essential.

“I still maintain the view that firms will have to prove their relevant expertise in the relevant market and we will have to be satisfied we are working with the right person, from whichever firm represents us in that market,” said Westfield group general counsel Simon Tuxen. Westfield’s operates in more than three international markets including Australia, the U.S. and the UK, yet Tuxen does not use any global firms  in all three markets.

While he is interested to see what these waves of mergers will do to the legal market, he says the real test will be the people put forward by the global firms in overseas markets, “and the relationship that is formed in the heat of battle”.

Nerilee Rockman, vice president legal commercial and supply chain at AngloGold Ashanti Australia, told ALB that she does not deal with law firms: “I work with those individuals who I consider to be of most value to our business and will do so irrespective of the law firm to which they are attached,” she said.

However, she did add that in the case of a material global transaction it might be beneficial to work with one firm across jurisdictions globally. M&A and corporate work are the areas of law in which Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance has positioned themselves and have already proven themselves worthy opponents in the M&A legal league tables.

Anna Lenahan, group general counsel and company secretary at Suncorp, says that if the right expertise can be found in a one-stop-global shop than that is helpful. “But we would still use a number of firms, if that is required to get the right expertise,” she added.

David Cohen, group general counsel at The Commonwealth Bank is equally ambivalent about the advantages in using a one-stop-shop for local and overseas legal work. “We see some benefit in our trusted advisers in Australia being well connected to offshore developments and resources but equally we don’t feel we have been particularly disadvantaged in the past by not having that option,” he said.