Leading international litigation and dispute resolution law firm Kennedys and specialist aviation and aerospace law firm, Gates and Partners LLP, are to merge.
The merger, which takes effect from 1 June 2013, enables Kennedys to offer comprehensive legal support to the aviation sector including corporate and commercial, regulatory and competition, employment, finance, insurance and dispute resolution services. It also enables Kennedys to strengthen its aviation and liability offering to its global insurance and reinsurance clients.
For Gates and Partners - recognised globally as a leading aviation law firm - the merger gives it an even greater international platform to expand its client relationships and specialist aviation and aerospace industry services. The aviation expertise of Gates and Partners combined with the strong and diverse national and international practice of Kennedys will allow the aerospace team to enhance its current offering on all aspects of aviation law.
The merger will take Kennedys’ partner count to 176 with a total of more than 1,120 people world-wide. The specialist aviation team, Kennedys Aviation, will comprise over 60 people including 20 partners.
The merged firm will be known as Kennedys and led by Senior partner Nick Thomas, who comments:
“Our expansion continues to be predicated on client need and organic growth and this merger enables us to do what we do best: dedicate ourselves to a particular sector and add real value by combining legal knowledge and industry insight. This approach has served us well in several other sectors. It’s a powerful combination which adds greater value to our clients’ businesses.”
Gates and Partners’ senior partner Sean Gates will retire from the firm this summer to pursue his other interests in the aviation industry. “I leave the firm in a tremendously strong position; Gates and Partners has carved out a position as the only international law firm wholly dedicated to the aviation and aerospace sectors and it will now be able to grow further, benefitting from Kennedys international platform, wider legal expertise and its strong sector focus.
“I’m proud of what Gates and Partners has achieved and I wish Nick and the whole team good luck for the future. As I pursue other opportunities in the aviation industry, I look forward to working in collaboration with Kennedys on other projects.”
