Manchester and Leeds-based Cobbetts is to merge with Birmingham firm Lee Crowder and create a top-50 national firm in one of the biggest regional mergers of the year.

The firm, which will have 116 partners - if all salaried and equity partners retain their positions in the merged firm - and 139 assistants and associates, will be called

Cobbetts, and lawyers will remain in the offices in which they currently work for the time being.

Lee

Crowder will call itself Lee Crowder Cobbetts until 1 May next year, when the merger will be finalised.

Cobbetts managing partner Michael Shaw - who will be managing partner of the combined firm - said the merger would enable the firm to exploit the opportunities for a 'strong, highly focused firm operating out the three key regional centres, without the distractions and cost structure that a London operation would impose'.

He said national law firms were increasingly neglecting non-public company clients, adding: 'The costs associated with resourcing the high-end transactional work done through London offices means national firms find it difficult to provide a cost-effective service to the rest of their client base.

At the same time, these clients are increasingly demanding a quality of service that most provincial firms cannot provide.'

Stephen Gilmore, senior partner of Lee Crowder - who will head the corporate department of the combined firm - said the merger would increase the range of services available to clients.

He said that while both firms were strong in commercial and property work, Lee Crowder had expertise in social housing and corporate recovery, whereas Cobbetts has expertise in mutual societies and employment.

He added: 'Cobbetts and Lee Crowder have known each other for some time and we are absolutely confident that there is an excellent fit between the two firms.'

Jeremy Fleming