Proskauer Rose and SJ Berwin Call Off Merger Talks
Proskauer Rose and British law firm SJ Berwin have ended merger talks after nine months of discussions.
The law firms confirmed the end of the talks in a joint statement, Legal Week reports. SJ Berwin’s new managing partner Rob Day told The Lawyer that one of the issues hampering talks was “the mismatch between profitability,” but it wasn’t the only issue.
“It was also the realization that we still had a long period of time to go to continue talking and this had already been in the public eye for a long time,” Day said.
Profits per equity partner were $1.37 million at Proskauer Rose, compared to 447,000 pounds—about $720,000–at SJ Berwin, Legal Week says.
Legal Week reports that the lengthy merger talks had been “unsettling the partnership” at SJ Berwin.
The statement says the decision to end talks was mutual. “At this stage in our discussions we recognized that the timetable necessary to reach the agreements that would ensure the successful integration of our firms is not workable at this time,” the statement said.
