Clyde & Co and BLM agree to combine

Clyde & Co and BLM will merge to create a law firm with global annual revenue of more than £700 million, 5,000 staff and offices in 60 cities worldwide.

The combination will conclude in July following a vote in favour by partners at both firms. The new combined law firm will be known as Clyde & Co going forward.

BLM, a UK and Ireland law firm focused on insurance risk and commercial law with a particular strength in casualty, personal injury, healthcare and professional liability, will become part of Clyde & Co’s global insurance practice group.

The majority of its lawyers will join Clyde & Co’s casualty insurance practice, with other sizable groups joining the professional liability, healthcare and business advisory teams.

Following the merger, the firm will provide a broad casualty insurance offering across its UK offices in catastrophic injury, disease, employers’ and public liability, abuse and neglect, fraud, motor claims, and property damage and recovery.

This offering will be supplemented by a costs team, forensic accountants, investigators, other specialists, and an in-house safety health and environmental regulatory team, enabling the combined law firm to provide full coverage across civil and criminal matters.

Explaining the merger, James Cooper, partner at Clyde & Co and chair of its global insurance practice group, said: “We have long sought to increase the scale of our UK casualty insurance practice though a merger so we can provide the full scope of services, technology, data analytics and innovation that clients in this dynamic part of the market require.”

“Once we started speaking to BLM we quickly realised that we shared the same approach to client service, had a complementary client roster and similar ambitions in this space. This combination will also boost our regional UK presence and strengthen our healthcare and professional liability offerings too.”

Clyde & Co recently launched a new online platform and suite of digital tools to help insurers speed up the handling of their casualty insurance claims with the aim of delivering the lowest overall indemnity spend to clients. 

The new product offers cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence for claims automation backed by the firm’s lawyers and advisory services, which, according to Clyde & Co, complements BLM Innovations, a suite of online analytics, case management and communications tools that the firm first launched in 2019.

Chris Murray, partner and head of casualty at Clyde & Co, said: “This is a really exciting move for us and our clients in the casualty space. It is such a fast moving and innovative part of the insurance market and combining with BLM will allow us to invest even more in the technology and innovation that our clients are asking for.”

“We will also have the ability to harness the largest data set in the market to provide invaluable MI and data analysis to clients. But crucially, it is a merger founded on a shared approach to quality and client service and that will remain at the heart of our offering.”

Carolena Gordon, senior partner at Clyde & Co, commented: “We are delighted the merger has secured approval from both sets of partners. At Clyde & Co we are always focused on growing and developing our offering for the good of our clients and our people and this merger does exactly that. BLM has highly talented people and outstanding client relationships and we are excited by the potential of this combination.”

Matthew Harrington, senior partner at BLM, added: “We are looking forward to the opportunities combining both firms will bring for our people and our clients. This merger is one of aligned approaches and values, offering huge benefits to our clients in the areas that matter most.”

“Combining our expertise will strengthen our market offering in the UK casualty, healthcare, and professional liability space, with true operational excellence and the agility to respond rapidly to the changing needs of the market.”

Mark Dugdale