 However, following a third failed merger attempt in 2001, this time with Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn, the firm's credibility as a viable partnership was beginning to be called into question in both the legal press and the wider profession.Consequently, in early 2003 (101 years after the firm was founded) following an approach by North of England firm Addleshaw Booth & Co, the fourth proposed merger was approved with very little resistance from the partnership.Five years on, the merger was described as "the most successful law firm merger since 2000".