Allen & Gledhill LLP (A&G) and Zaid Ibrahim & Co (ZICO) have announced the signing of an alliance agreement, which will officially commence on 1 January 2008, that will see the two firms exchange management expertise and best practices.

Targeting an increasing number of mandates for cross-border capability in areas such as corporate and commercial, finance, real estate and intellectual property, the strategic alliance will offer regional clients a combined team of over 400 lawyers, according to the firms.

The alliance will be managed by a joint team made up of A&G managing partner Lucien Wong (pictured with ZICO chairman and senior partner Datuk Zaid Ibrahim) and partner Lim Teong Sit, together with ZICO managing partner Chew Seng Kok and partners Dato' Dr Nik Norzrul Thani and Lim Kar Han.

The two firms, which have worked together on a number of transactions in recent years, said the alliance would not only concentrate on their respective home markets but would prioritise the resurgent markets of Indonesia and Vietnam.

Voted 'Singapore Deal Firm of the Year' for the third year in a row at this year's ALB SE Asia Law Awards, A&G's strength lies in banking & finance, corporate & commercial and real estate.

"For our clients who are increasingly seeking consistent and top quality legal advice across the ASEAN region, this is an unprecedented development," said Wong.

Housing six offices in Malaysia, as well as offices in Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand, ZICO meanwhile is known for its work across projects, regulatory reform, corporate banking and finance areas, including Islamic finance. The Malaysian firm opened offices in Singapore in 2003, Jakarta in 2005 and Bangkok in 2007, and Ibrahim described the agreement with A&G as "the next phase in our regional expansion plans".

"Globalisation is reinforcing the trend for competitive alliances in the legal marketplace to better serve increased cross border trade flow and mergers and acquisitions," he said. "This Agreement offers our clients a level of service and regional capability the market has not seen before."

A&G and ZICO are the largest law firms in Singapore and Malaysia respectively. In this year's ALB50 (published in April 2007), A&G had a total lawyer headcount of 236 (including 96 partners) making it the 35th largest firm in the Asia-Pacific. ZICO had a total lawyer headcount of 135 (including 41 partners).