{"id":156875,"date":"2026-07-15T15:27:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/15\/another-rumored-biglaw-merger-falls-apart-before-it-begins\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T15:27:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:27:27","slug":"another-rumored-biglaw-merger-falls-apart-before-it-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/07\/15\/another-rumored-biglaw-merger-falls-apart-before-it-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Rumored Biglaw Merger Falls Apart Before It Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember when everyone thought the Allen & Overy\/Shearman merger<\/a> was a once-in-a-generation event? It was supposed to be a transatlantic Biglaw merger for the ages, but many law firm leaders viewed it as an invitation. <\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019ve got HSF Kramer<\/a>, Winston Taylor<\/a>, Ashurst Perkins Coie<\/a>, and Hogan Lovells Cadwalader<\/a>. Absolutely no one wants to miss out on this kind of merger action, but sometimes, it\u2019s just not meant to be.<\/p>\n

On that note, we\u2019ve got news on an alleged law firm romance that reportedly fizzled pretty quickly. According to Semafor<\/a>, Linklaters attempted to woo Cleary Gottlieb into a merger earlier this year, but it seems that the UK firm was politely rejected. The denials followed quickly:<\/p>\n

\n

A Linklaters spokesperson denied that it had made an approach to Cleary. A Cleary spokesperson said the firm was focused on a \u201cstrategically aggressive growth strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

UK publication Non-Billable<\/a> got an even more detailed denial, with a Cleary spokesperson calling the merger rumor \u201ccategorically false.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whether this courtship got very far \u2014 or ever happened in the first place \u2014 may never be known. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear: if you\u2019re a global law firm that hasn\u2019t at least explored a transformational, transatlantic merger, you\u2019re starting to look like the exception rather than the rule.<\/p>\n

Exclusive \/\u00a0UK law firm Linklaters sought to merge with Cleary Gottlieb<\/a> [Semafor]<\/p>\n

Linklaters and Cleary deny report of merger approach<\/a> [Non-Billable]<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Another Rumored Biglaw Merger Falls Apart Before It Begins<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Remember when everyone thought the Allen & Overy\/Shearman merger<\/a> was a once-in-a-generation event? It was supposed to be a transatlantic Biglaw merger for the ages, but many law firm leaders viewed it as an invitation. <\/p>\n

Now, we\u2019ve got HSF Kramer<\/a>, Winston Taylor<\/a>, Ashurst Perkins Coie<\/a>, and Hogan Lovells Cadwalader<\/a>. Absolutely no one wants to miss out on this kind of merger action, but sometimes, it\u2019s just not meant to be.<\/p>\n

On that note, we\u2019ve got news on an alleged law firm romance that reportedly fizzled pretty quickly. According to Semafor<\/a>, Linklaters attempted to woo Cleary Gottlieb into a merger earlier this year, but it seems that the UK firm was politely rejected. The denials followed quickly:<\/p>\n

\n

A Linklaters spokesperson denied that it had made an approach to Cleary. A Cleary spokesperson said the firm was focused on a \u201cstrategically aggressive growth strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

UK publication Non-Billable<\/a> got an even more detailed denial, with a Cleary spokesperson calling the merger rumor \u201ccategorically false.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whether this courtship got very far \u2014 or ever happened in the first place \u2014 may never be known. But one thing is becoming increasingly clear: if you\u2019re a global law firm that hasn\u2019t at least explored a transformational, transatlantic merger, you\u2019re starting to look like the exception rather than the rule.<\/p>\n

Exclusive \/\u00a0UK law firm Linklaters sought to merge with Cleary Gottlieb<\/a> [Semafor]<\/p>\n

Linklaters and Cleary deny report of merger approach<\/a> [Non-Billable]<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Staci Zaretsky<\/a> is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email<\/a> her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>, X\/Twitter<\/a>, and Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Another Rumored Biglaw Merger Falls Apart Before It Begins<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember when everyone thought the Allen & Overy\/Shearman merger was a once-in-a-generation event? It was supposed to be a transatlantic Biglaw merger for the ages, but many law firm leaders viewed it as an invitation. Now, we\u2019ve got HSF Kramer, Winston Taylor, Ashurst Perkins Coie, and Hogan Lovells Cadwalader. Absolutely no one wants to miss […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":156876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-156875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Staci-Zaretsky-vsART0.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}