Biglaw

After Over A Year, Allen & Overy and O'Melveny Call Off Merger

Allen & Overy still wants a major U.S. expansion... but it needs a new partner.

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A single tear for “Allen O’Melvery”

We’ve branded them a “Will-They-Or-Won’t-They romantic comedy,” but now we know that the answer is definitively “won’t” with the two firms calling off merger talks.

As recently as July, we were hearing that this deal was right around the corner. It made all the sense in the world with Allen & Overy broadcasting a commitment to major expansion in the United States with O’Melveny sitting right there with almost no gap in firm PPP. Why wouldn’t these kids get together and launch a 3,000-lawyer firm with around $2.8 billion in revenue?

But there were problems lingering from the beginning of this saga. Immediately after the story came out, O’Melveny fiercely denied it, declaring, “We have no plans to merge and never have.” It was news to Allen & Overy, who didn’t try to lie to the press and confirmed they were in negotiations with an American firm. To say the firms weren’t on the same page at the time is an understatement — they weren’t on the same document set.

But somehow they got beyond the opening gate stumbles and enjoyed a long courtship complete with reported leadership trips to London and Frankfurt to hash out details. O’Melveny made concrete changes to its U.K. recruitment efforts in a seeming nod to an impending merger.

Still, rumors swirled that a small enclave of powerful A&O London partners were opposed to the deal. As the U.K. stares down the barrel of a business cataclysm entirely driven by old Englishmen refusing to embrace economic globalism… this all tracks.

Whether the deal died because of those partners, or the stated reason of troublesome foreign exchange rates, it’s back to the drawing board for Allen & Overy leadership reiterating that expanding in the U.S. “remains the highest priority.”

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Allen & Overy and O’Melveny & Myers abandon merger talks [Legal Cheek]

Earlier: The ‘Allen & O’Melvery’ Merger Seems To Be Gaining Steam
Checking In On ‘Allen & O’Melvery,’ Biglaw’s Most Hilarious ‘Will They Or Won’t They’ RomCom
Allen & Overy And O’Melveny Are Considering Merger (Please Name It Allen & O’Melvery)
O’Melveny Tells ATL ‘We Have No Plans To Merge And Never Have.’

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