Bird & Bird

Bird & Bird is an international law firm with a focus on helping organisations being changed by technology and the digital world. There are 1,300 lawyers in 29 offices across Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and North America.

Bird & Bird’s history stretches back to the 1830s and the firm was formally established in the UK in 1846.

As technology allowed innovations and ideas to travel more quickly, the need to protect the ideas and innovations of its clients encouraged the firm to expand its international capabilities.

In 2000 the firm opened offices in France and Sweden. One year later it opened in The Netherlands and the following year it opened its first office in Germany. In 2003, the expansion continued, with a new office in Italy and a second office in Germany.

The rapid growth meant that in 2004 the number of partners at the firm reached 100 for the first time, and the expansion continued unabated with a new office in Beijing. The following year saw new offices in Madrid, Rome and Frankfurt, while 2006 saw a further opening in Lyon in France.

2008 saw the firm open a Finnish office in Helsinki through a merger with a leading Finnish firm Fennica, as well as four other offices in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and a third office in China with the opening of an office in Shanghai. On top of this, expansion in London continued through a merger with Lane & Partners.

Bird & Bird continued to expand its international reach and in May 2013, merged with Danish outfit BvHD, completing its coverage of the Nordic region. The same year, the firm signed an international cooperation agreement with BCCC Avocats, located in Switzerland. In November 2014, Bird & Bird merged with leading Australian new economy specialist law firm, Truman Hoyle, to create their first office in Australia, bringing their presence in the Asia Pacific region to 5 offices, with another 5 formal co-operation agreements in place in Malaysia, China, Indonesia and Korea. Bird & Bird's international growth continued with the launch of a Luxembourg office in 2016, followed by the opening of a hub office in Amsterdam in 2018, and the opening of a representative office in downtown San Francisco, their first office in the USA.

Bird & Bird practices 18 areas of law in more than 16 industries in 20 countries. Their clients are based across 118 countries worldwide and 75% of major clients work with more than one office, making it a truly collaborative international network.

Bird & Bird’s Diversity & Inclusion committee aims to provide and maintain an inclusive work environment.

The firm was awarded “Most Admired Law Firm” by Legal Cheek in 2021, and “Global Firm of the Year” by Who’s Who Legal 2021 in IT, Telecoms and Media, Life Sciences – Patent Litigation, and Patents.

• Official website