Partners at CMS UK, Nabarro and Olswang have voted to merge, and will become the world’s sixth largest law firm by headcount and sixth largest in the UK by revenue. After the merger, due to complete by 1 May 2017, the firm will trade as CMS. It will have more than 1,000 partners, a global team of more than 4,500 lawyers, and global revenues in excess of €1.2 billion. CMS senior partner Penelope Warne said the merger “is a great endorsement of the extraordinary export of English law throughout the world”.
13 October 2016
CMS merger
MOVERS & SHAKERS
NLJ Career Profile: Nikki Bowker, Devonshires
Nikki Bowker, head of dispute resolution at Devonshires, on career resilience, diversity in law and channelling Elle Woods when the pressure is on
Ellisons—Sarah Osborne
Leasehold enfranchisement specialist joins residential property team
DWF—Chris Air
Firm strengthens commercial team in Manchester with partner appointment
NEWS
The government will aim to pass legislation banning leasehold for new flats and capping ground rent, introducing non-compulsory digital ID and creating a ‘duty of candour’ for public servants (also known as the Hillsborough law) in the next Parliament
An Italian financier has lost his bid to block his Australian wife from filing divorce papers in England on the basis it was no longer her domicile of choice
Reforms to the disclosure regime in the business and property courts have not achieved their objectives, lawyers have warned
The Law Society has urged ministers to hold a public consultation on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the justice system as a whole
Ministers have proposed bringing inquest work under a single fee scheme for legal help and advocacy legal aid work
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
