Overhauling the brand of a national firm is no small undertaking, as Deacons has revealed as part of its upcoming merger with Norton Rose. We look at the impact brand changes have had at DLA Phillips Fox.

In late 2006, Phillips Fox left behind its distinctive purple colouring, relaunching as DLA Phillips Fox - the result of an alliance formed between the firm and DLA Piper.

Unlike the Deacons/Norton Rose merger, however, the Phillips Fox /DLA Piper relationship was not intended - at least in the short term - to progress to a complete financial merger, and DLA Phillips Fox senior communications manager Michelle Cutler says the partial name change was intended to reflect this.

"It's an exclusive alliance - we refer work to each other and we're able to utilise and leverage [DLA Piper's] experience. We send our clients who want to do deals overseas and they do the same to us," she says.

"So the 'DLA' was to indicate that we're part of the global network. But we're not called DLA Piper because we're not DLA Piper."

Cutler agrees that communication has been key to ensuring clients are on board with the alliance. "The success has been in working out what bit of [the alliance] is relevant to the particular client," she says. "There will be some clients who it's not relevant for, and they will want to know that you're continuing to provide the same service and will be just as focused on their needs. But then there are other clients who do have global operations, or they're doing business overseas, and it's directly relevant to them."

She says that over the last three years the two firms have undertaken a number of joint projects to demonstrate the benefits the alliance can offer such clients. These have included getting lawyers from both firms involved in joint research which is then presented to clients, as well as bringing out partners from DLA Piper's international offices to address clients on topical issues.

The firm has also used the relationship to develop the skills of its lawyers in areas of law which are still in the developmental stage in Australia - such as carbon trading - by seconding lawyers to DLA Piper's overseas offices.