Talk of Eversheds’ highland fling still echoes round the valley

Discussion of McGrigors’ relationship with Eversheds just won’t die down. As reported earlier this year, the two firms in April conceded that they are operating an informal referral relationship but categorically denied persistent external claims that they are positioning themselves for a merger.

Yet there are those who know the firms involved that still claim there is, in effect, a gentleman’s agreement that the pair are prepping to discuss a union in earnest in the autumn.

It has also been claimed that Eversheds has run joint pitches with McGrigors in recent times; Eversheds concedes that it has on occasion conducted such pitches with Scots firms, but refuses to say which.

If the claims are entirely untrue, the firms may want to work on their internal comms since at least one Eversheds partner this week believed that the two had indeed discussed a full tie-up earlier this year. Another partner with Eversheds’ international network thought that a tie-up with McGrigors was on the horizon (and supported the idea).

Another source who knows McGrigors well is adamant that the relationship between the firms goes well beyond the official party line.

Still, a union would be a little odd in that it’s hard to see the over-powering logic, at least from Eversheds’ point of view. While a bit of Scots presence would be handy, it’s hard to imagine the firm is desperate to have a £30m-plus business north of the border. And though McGrigors’ partner profits rose sharply this year to an average of £320,000, they still considerably lag Eversheds’ recently-improved £502,000.

For McGrigors, it is easier to see the attraction as the firm is hoping to expand dramatically, particularly in London, where the Scots firm has seen a number of departures of late.

Eversheds, of course, has big plans of its own for London. True, it has had big plans for London for a decade - but it actually looks like it might be putting them into action now and it is hard to see where a McGrigors deal would sit with that.

For the record, Eversheds managing partner David Gray this week maintained that the relationship would go no further than a few referrals. Perhaps he needs to say so a touch more emphatically.

ben.mitchell@legalweek.com; alex.novarese@legalweek.com