The two firms signed a deal earlier this month that will see them join forces with effect from November 1. The combined firm will have more than 230 practitioners in 19 offices in the UK, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, France, Luxembourg and Canada.

Lloyd Wise brings more than 40 patent and trade mark attorneys to the merged firm, including more than 20 in Singapore (where Marks & Clerk has not had an office until now) and 10 in Hong Kong.

It also has an office in Beijing to add to Marks & Clerk’s recently opened office in Shanghai. Although overseas patent firms are only allowed to open one office in China, merged firms with offices in different cities can retain both of them. “It is our intention to keep both offices and try and grow them,” Marks & Clerk chairman Chris Gibson told MIP.

In the UK, the two firms will merge their London and Manchester offices. Lloyd Wise has some 13 attorneys in the UK.

Paul Bowman, senior partner of Lloyd Wise, which was founded in 1849, said the merger had developed through contacts in Asia: “We had decided about two years ago that a merger would be of assistance as we were of in-between size in the UK.” Being part of a bigger firm will give Lloyd Wise more resources in areas such as training, IT and human resources, making it more attractive to potential recruits, he said.

Simon Mounteney, a partner of Marks & Clerk, said that research among the firm’s clients had shown that they want strength in depth: “We are placing greater emphasis on having client teams, rather than just one or two individuals.” The firm is also emphasizing client care managers and key client programmes, he added.

Gibson denied that Marks & Clerk’s latest merger, which comes after several others in the UK and France, meant that it was squeezing its competition in the UK: “UK practitioners need to ask: where are the threats coming from? They are generally coming from outside the UK; the UK profession is in danger of being steamrollered from overseas.”

He added that Marks & Clerk, which also has an associated firm of solicitors, would continue to look for expansion opportunities worldwide, but only where there are practices that are “genuinely complementary”: “We really believe that if it is to work it has to be a genuine marriage.”

The Lloyd Wise name will be retained, especially in Asia, in the firm’s branding, said Gibson: “Lloyd Wise is a very long-established firm with reputation and goodwill, so we will continue to use the name for a period within the Marks & Clerk group.”