| Seven days ago, Nabarro, CMS Cameron McKenna and Olswang confirmed that partners at the three firms had voted in favour of a bold three-way union that will operate primarily under the CMS banner. One week on, details are starting to emerge about what the combined firm will look like and, with that, assessments of its likely success made. While there is a sense that much of the motivation for CMS's UK arm is about scale and a desire for greater clout within the international CMS network, many observers and ex-partners are positive about the deal in theory, despite doubts about the practicalities of pulling it off. In practice, integration may not be pretty. CMS, as the largest firm, appears to be calling the shots, with its management team retaining the same titles post-merger and its partners escaping a lock-in. As such, fall-out in terms of exits from Olswang and Nabarro seems likely, with particular questions around some of Olswang's continental European offices. However, with a long way to go before the union goes live on 1 May next year, any true assessment of its success is a long way off, let alone looking at whether it achieves the ambitions of the combined firm's management, But last week wasn't all about that merger. Here are some of the other top stories from Legal Week over the last seven days: | 
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