DLA Phillips Fox Adelaide and Rankine Tucker Lawyers will create a new firm, Fox Tucker Lawyers, from September 6. The new firm brings together legal expertise in insurance, corporate-commercial and taxation, and will see the Rankine Tucker team move into the DLA offices.

DLA Phillips Fox Adelaide managing partner, Joe DeRuvo, will become managing partner of the newly-formed firm and all partners within the two firms will retain their partnerships. The Adelaide office financially separated from DLA Phillips Fox in September last year, moving it to affiliate status.

Rankine Tucker partner Jeremy Rees said the decision by the Adelaide DLA Phillips Fox office to become financially separate from the DLA group was not a trigger for the two firms joining forces. “We have had a longstanding relationship with DLA Phillips Fox. I used to be a partner there, they know me, we know them... we thought it would be a good cultural fit for the two firms to join,” Rees said.

He added that Fox Tucker hoped to bring a more “comprehensive skill” offering to the Adelaide market, and will maintain strong relations with the DLA Phillips Fox national network. The new firm will have more than 70 staff when it opens, and Rees said they did not anticipate making any retrenchments as a result of the amalgamation.

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