Local law firms Cox Hallett Wilkinson (CHW) and Hollis & Co. have announced that they are merging their operations.

The merger will take effect from July 1, 2004, and management of both firms yesterday told The Royal Gazette the move reflects a ?good fit?.

?The merger has benefits for the local and international practices of both firms particularly in the areas of litigation, trust, intellectual property, immigration and employment work,? said CHW managing partner David Cooper.

At Hollis & Co. managing partner Wendell Hollis said the two firms complement each other well.

?Our corporate and commercial departments will complement each other by combining the strong local client base and well-established international clientele of both firms,? he said.

The firms anticipate the merger will result in ?an even stronger property department for the combined firm with greater breadth and depth covering both the residential and commercial markets,? said Mr. Cooper.

CHW is the larger firm with 46 lawyers and staff.

It was itself the product of a 1998 merger of local firms Hallett Whitney & Patton and Cox & Wilkinson. Hollis & Co., which has 14 lawyers and staff, was founded in February 2000 as the Bermuda law firm affiliated with the local office of global accounting group Ernst & Young (E&Y).

The two law firms have been in informal merger discussions for the past two year, The Royal Gazette was told.

But the catalyst to move the merger forward formally came in February when E&Y?s international governing body decided that all of its member firms should shave off their law practices.

?In a global operation like E&Y these things tend to be dictated by what happens in the US,? said Mr. Hollis. ?Their decision had a lot to do with the introduction of the Sarbanes Oxley legislation and the general background related to it. So we found ourselves able to look at a new opportunity with this merger.?

Mr. Cooper added: ?Our discussions took a more formal tone after the E&Y decision to move away from the multi-disciplinary practice business model and we came to the conclusion that a merger made sense for both firms.?

With the merger the name Hollis & Co. will no longer exist and the combined firm will practice under the Cox Hallett Wilkinson name and corporate logo.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that Mr. Cooper will act as managing partner of the combined firm.

Mr. Hollis indicated to The Royal Gazette that he anticipated taking a much reduced role in firm management.

?I?ve been doing it for 28 years and I?m looking forward to just practising law,? he said.

Neither lawyer would confirm whether there would be any job losses as a result of the merger.

At this stage management is working on putting all the resources of both firms together to assess what the requirements for the new structure will be, they said.

All staff will be accommodated at CHW?s Parliament Street offices in Hamilton once the merger is finalised.

Both men said the reaction from clients to news has been ?very positive?.

This is the second announcement to date this year of a merger in Bermuda?s legal community.

The first was a much larger, international merger and combining the former Appleby Spurling & Kempe with Cayman firm Hunter & Hunter to create Appleby Spurling Hunter.

The trend of consolidation of local law firms will probably continue, Mr. Hollis suggested.

?I think we?ll see more consolidations in the local market,? he said. ?We?re seeing a growing separation between the international practice of law and the local practice of law, with the largest firms in the market being predominantly focused on the international practice.

?But the work in the local market is becoming increasingly sophisticated as a result of the international business presence here.

?For example some of the big commercial property developments we?ve handled are related to the international side. I think we (via the merger) can try to keep the two together.?