Spanish giant Cuatrecasas has taken the unusual decision to add “Gonçalves Pereira” to its global brand in an almost unheard of example of an international firm choosing to lengthen its corporate name.
The partners of the firm this week voted to rebrand from "Cuatrecasas" to "Cuatrecasas Gonçalves Pereira". The new name stems from the firm's Portuguese practice, Gonçalves Pereira Castelo Branco & Associados, which merged with Cuatrecasas earlier in the decade. The idea of the rebranding is to allow the firm to operate in the Iberian Peninsula and internationally as a single global brand.
Emilio Cuatrecasas, the firm's executive chairman, said: "The new corporate name aims to convey the desire of all the Spanish and Portuguese partners to build an Iberian firm that unites the traditions and common values of both firms in an unprecedented Iberian project."
However, the addition of new names will raise eyebrows. Few firms have lengthened names outside of a merger deal because the belief is that it could confuse clients and weaken the brand. The Gonçalves Pereira names have been used locally in Portugal since the merger, which was some years ago. Rivals may deem it strange to include the names so long after the initial deal.
In addition, as a single name, Cuatrecasas is one of the most established Spanish legal brands. Adding further names could be unnecessary and only go to complicate matters as they would unlikely enter common usage. None of Cuatrecasas' rivals, like Garrigues or Uria Menendez, have incorporated Portuguese names into their global titles.
The trend has been for firms to shorten and simplify names – often down to one-word titles – and not the opposite. In Portugal local players such as PLMJ and VDA have moved towards easier corporate branding. On an international level, Lovells and Ashurst are amongst the Anglo-Saxon practices to cut down to a single name in recent years.
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