Biglaw Merger Lands New Am Law 100 Firm In Our Stockings – () – Merger activity for major law firms picked up this year after the pandemic led to a sharp decline in 2020, and industry consultants said they expect a further uptick next year.
This year, several large American companies used mergers with smaller companies to enter new markets. Spencer Fane, Thompson Coburn, and Crowell & Moring absorbed medium-sized firms in Nashville, New York, and Chicago, respectively, expanding their national footprints.
Biglaw Merger Lands New Am Law 100 Firm In Our Stockings
Dentons also continued its American expansion, combining with companies in Iowa and Alabama. Holland & Knight significantly strengthened its presence in the hot Texas legal market by merging with Dallas-based, 275-lawyer Thompson & Knight.
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And 2021 closes with another major merger on the horizon — Schiff Hardin and Arent Fox said they will merge March 1 into a firm that will have 600 attorneys and policy professionals and combined revenue of more than $475 million.
Law firm Fairfax Associates said it has tracked 33 completed mergers in the third quarter of 2021, compared with 32 at the time last year and 46 at the end of the third quarter of 2019.
“We’ve seen a lot of interest from companies, a lot of discussions going on,” said Lisa Smith, principal of Fairfax Associates.
Smith, who is among those predicting even more activity in 2022, also said there is greater interest among companies to merge or combine with another company of comparable size.
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But she said it is unclear whether such “mergers of equals” will make up a larger proportion of merger deals next year.
American law firms have been competing hard for lawyers this year, raising salaries and handing out big bonuses to keep up. Partners, depending on their methods and client lists, have also been in high demand.
“Even though they’ve spent a lot of time and money growing it to scale, it feels like they’re treading water,” Zimmermann said. “For every person or team they can recruit, another person retires or leaves.”
While he also expects to see an increase in merger activity, Brad Hildebrandt of Hildebrandt Consulting asked how significant it will be. Given the booming U.S. legal market, fewer companies may be looking for lifelines, he said.
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The industry is poised for another solid year of revenue growth — Wells Fargo Private Bank’s Legal Specialty Group projected average growth of 14% among the law firms it surveyed last month.
But stronger financial performance can also be a driver of merger activity, Zimmermann said, as companies invest their profits in wage increases and hiring. A merger with another company could reduce the risk of poaching, he said.
David Thomas reports on law, including law firm strategy, employment, mergers and litigation. He is based out of Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected] and on Twitter @DaveThomas5150. As companies compete for prominence, a segmentation analysis of the Am 100 reveals changes in the pecking order.
To most casual observers, Kirkland & Ellis and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz represent the pinnacle of success in Big. Kirkland ended a fairytale decade with $6.04 billion in 2021 revenue and $7.4 million in earnings per share partner. Wachtell maintained its pole position – for the 15th year in a row – in metrics per year with $3.9 million in revenue per year and $8.4 million in PEP.
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But the two companies take completely different paths to prestige and profit. Kirkland is a powerful mega-company with more than 3,000 employees, a two-tier partnership and the most aggressive growth strategy in the industry. Wachtell has remained small and mighty, with less than 300 years in one New York office, zero partners and a locked-in compensation system.
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Schulten Ward Turner & Weiss, LLP is pleased to announce that John Gracia has joined the firm as a partner.
WISNIEWSKI & ASSOCIATES LLC is pleased to announce that civil attorney DOUGLAS R. D ANTONIO has become a partner in the firm.
Don’t miss the critical news and insights you need to make informed legal decisions. Join The American yer now!” It is clear that today’s employees would see stealth firings as management’s lack of accountability, dishonesty, and lack of compassion. They would take a heavy toll on relationships with partners and leaders, and therefore on motivation and in ultimately steady productivity and vitality,” writes Hugh A. Simons.
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It sinks in for many businesses that you should probably let it go. This happens when the fall assessment cycle draws to a close. It will be tempting to carry out the redundancies as part of the reviews – so-called stealth redundancies. After all, the conventional wisdom is that stealth terminations carry less risk than their open, publicly acknowledged counterparts.
There is a conflicting opinion. It is based on the premise that the decision on stealth versus open layoffs is a trade-off between risks to external reputation (how the blogosphere perceives the company) and to internal relations (how employees see partners and company leaders). At the start of the Great Recession, the former was generally seen as the greater threat, as evidenced by stealth firings outnumbering their open counterparts by nearly 3:1 (see the analysis in the appendix) .
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Premium Subscription This subscription gives you unlimited access to high-quality, online, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry. This is perfect for attorneys licensed in multiple jurisdictions or for attorneys who have completed their CLE requirements but need access to insightful information for their practice areas.
List Of Top Law Firms
Team Accounts Our Team Account subscription service is for legal teams of four or more lawyers. Every attorney is given unlimited access to high-quality, on-demand premium content from well-respected faculty in the legal industry along with administrative access to easily manage CLE for the entire team.
Package Subscriptions Get access to some of the most skilled and experienced attorneys with our two package options! Our Compliance Packages are compiled by CLE Counselors and cover current legal topics and industry challenges. Our second option allows you to build your package and strategically choose the content that relates to your needs. Both options have the same price.
From data to decisions Dynamically explore and compare data across businesses, companies, individual companies and industry trends.
Excluding depth and range. Compass includes access to our exclusive industry reports, which combine the unparalleled expertise of our analyst team with ALM’s deep bank of proprietary information to provide insights found nowhere else.
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Big pictures and fine details Compass brings you the full range of information, from the rankings of the Am 200 and NLJ 500 to intricate details and comparisons of company finances, personnel, customers, news and events.
The Women, Influence & Power in Awards honor women who have made a notable difference in the legal profession.
The National Journal honors attorneys and judges who have made a notable difference in the legal profession in the DC area.
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