Two high-profile legal aid firms are to merge this week to create one of the largest publicly funded criminal defence practices in the country, the Gazette can reveal.

Noble, with offices in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire, will merge with Wembley and Watford firm Tank Jowett on 1 April.

The merged firm, which will practise under the name Noble, will have a projected gross turnover of more than £12m, of which £10m will derive from criminal legal aid work. It will also undertake publicly funded civil work.

The firm will have 111 fee-earners, including 40 police station representatives covering 36 police stations, and 33 higher court advocates, both solicitors and employed barristers.

Noble managing director Paul Millan said the firm ‘embraced’ the opportunities presented by the Legal Services Act 2007, and had already had discussions with a City fund manager about potential external investment.