Benelux and Eastern Europe Next For The European Legal Alliance
02 February 2004
The European Legal Alliance is pushing ahead with its strategy
to provide full service capability in all main European
markets. With Italian and Spanish firms on board, the
Alliance is now looking at Belgium, the Netherlands and eastern
Europe.
At its meeting in Dublin on Friday, the Alliance's Executive
Committee voted for Italian firm La Scala & Associati and
Spanish firm Jiménez de Parga, Abogados to join the Alliance with
effect from 1 April 2004. The two firms have been working
closely with the Alliance for several months under a provisional
agreement. They join the five firms who created the Alliance
in April 2002:
Buse Heberer Fromm in Germany
Beauchamps in Ireland
Dubarry Le Douarin Veil in France
Harper Macleod in Scotland
Field Fisher Waterhouse in
England
La Scala & Associati is an 8 partner, 32 lawyer firm with
offices in Milan, Turin, Vicenza, Padua, Verona and
Mantova.
Jiménez de Parga, Abogados is an 8 partner, 50 lawyer firm with
offices in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Vitoria.
At Friday's meeting, the Alliance Executive Committee also
resolved to progress phase 3 of the Alliance's expansion in which
Belgium, the Netherlands and key eastern European markets have been
identified as the priorities. Extensive market research in
these jurisdictions has already been conducted by the Alliance.
Mark Abell, FFW's Alliance Executive Committee Member, says:
Alliance firms, of course, have some long-established informal
relationships with firms in these jurisdictions. However, the
selection criteria will be rigorous. This has been the secret
of our success so far. Firms will have to be committed to the
Alliance's client-centric vision. We believe that clients
want all the service features of a merged firm but are not
concerned with issues associated with profit sharing structures and
the like. This is what the Alliance provides.
We are looking for firms who are particularly strong in
corporate, IP and technology and have a strong client service
ethic.
For further press information please contact:
Ben Girdlestone, Communications Manager on 020 7861 4968
Louise Eckersley, PR Executive on 020 7861 4120