As Lovells gaze across the Atlantic at a potential suitor in the form of Hogan & Hartson, the American rumour genie began to bubble out of the bottle yesterday. Whilst Lovells and Hogan & Hartson have been widely reported to be gearing up to promote the merger to their partnerships later this year, eyes were roaming over other possible tie-ups. US blog Above the Law got rather over-excited at some unsubstantiated rumours about Allen & Overy and [unspecified] . A&O ended up issuing the following statement to deal with the tittle-tattle:

As a global player who has been quite open about the importance of the US market, we are often subject to such rumours. We have openly stated for a number of years now that we have the desire to expand in the US market and as such we would consider any opportunities that may arise with a suitable US partner. That remains the case, but at the current time we are not in any merger talks whatsoever with a US partner. Your [reports seem] to refer to a global call our management held with all partners recently on our current view on strategy, though your questions below do not reflect the content of what was said whatsoever.

Not exactly door-slamming but if you want to see how the rumours got started (i.e. the questions in question) click here to visit ATL and gague their investigative prodding.