UK firm Bond Dickinson’s transatlantic tie-up with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice has gone live today – creating top-20 firm Womble Bond Dickinson.

The combination, which the Gazette reported in June, builds on a strategic alliance announced by the two firms in 2016.

Combined revenue for the firm is £340 million, placing it inside the global top 100.

The tie-up is being billed as a combination rather than a merger and the two firms will remain separate domestic entities that will manage their own accounts and businesses. Jonathan Blair, the firm’s co-chair, previously told the Gazette that no redundancies would be required.

The firms now have 24 offices across the US and UK.

Meanwhile, Dentons, the world’s largest law firm by number of offices, has confirmed its combination with Glasgow-headquartered firm Maclay Murray & Spens - which will take on the Dentons brand.

Maclay is Scotland’s oldest commercial law firm. It was founded in 1871 and had revenues of £44.8m in the 2015/16 financial year. It previously tried to merge with Addleshaw Goddard but plans were called off last year.

The deal, first revealed in July, followed the demise of two other Scottish names. McGrigors merged with Pinsent Masons in 2012 while Dundas & Wilson was absorbed by CMS Cameron McKenna the following year.

Dentons now has 8,800 lawyers and professionals in 158 locations across 66 countries.