K&L Gates to Merge with Australian Law Firm Middletons
K&L Gates and Australian law firm Middletons will merge in January, creating a firm of more than 2,000 lawyers.
Partners unanimously approved the combination, according to a press release. The merged firm will have the K&L Gates name. Legal Week and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog have stories.
According to the press release, the merger will create a “single integrated global law firm.” The new firm will have full financial integration and will compensate partners using a single approach.
Middletons has 300 lawyers and offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane. After the merger, K&L Gates will have 46 offices across five continents. K&L Gates chairman and global managing partner Peter Kalis will oversee the merged firm, while Middletons national managing partner Nick Nichola will be Australia managing partner, Legal Week says.
Several international law firms have pursued Australian mergers in the past year, Legal Week reports, “with a whole spate of U.K. outfits announcing a variety of different unions with Australia’s best-known national firms.”
Prior coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “K&L Gates in Merger Talks with Australian Firm Middletons”
