Jones Lang LaSalle
Rumors Fuel Law Firm Merger Mania
Gina Passarella
The Legal Intelligencer
06-05-2006
"We can't confirm." "Yes, we're talking." "It's a done deal."
Responses to several merger rumors lately have come with varying replies, but there is one common thread: There are plenty of merger rumors to respond to. In talking to those in the legal community, it's apparent that a number of firms are talking. And at least one firm has gotten past the talking phase.
Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads has announced its merger with 11-attorney Crawford, Wilson & Ryan in West Chester, Pa.
The merger will become effective Aug. 1 and adds to the transactional and business side of Montgomery McCracken, firm Chairman Stephen A. Madva said.
Crawford Wilson focuses on business, corporate, real estate and land development, civil litigation and personal injury, estate, tax and family and domestic law.
Madva said the firm is very strong on the real estate side .
Montgomery McCracken is looking to grow to "comfortably over 200 attorneys," Madva said, adding that the 170-attorney firm currently has about 110 litigators and 60 attorneys on the business side.
Most of the additions will be on the business and transactional side, he said, and would "ideally" come in the form of additional mergers.
Within the past year the firm has added Tray Beck and Richard King, formerly of Reed Smith and Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, respectively, to its corporate practice, as well as bringing on former Common Pleas Court Judge Gene Cohen and Sula Baye of Dallas-based Andrews Kurth to bolster its litigation department. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel B. Rosen will also join the firm Sept. 1.
Some of the attorneys from Crawford Wilson will remain in their West Chester office, while others will move to Montgomery McCracken's Berwyn, Pa., office.
Partners Fronefield Crawford Jr. and Kevin J. Ryan will work primarily from the Berwyn office, while Thomas R. Wilson will remain in the downtown West Chester office.
Of counsel attorneys Mike Imms, Julia Malloy-Good, Kim Denise Morton, Richard Morton and Andrea Pettine and associates Jonathan Boughrum, Andrew McReynolds and Kim Venzie are also expected to work out of suburban offices.
Ryan will become co-managing partner of the two offices, along with Montgomery McCracken partner Stephen G. Rhoads.
Madva said he has two years to decide what to do with the West Chester office but said it is an area he is most likely looking to grow.
While the Montgomery McCracken merger has already happened, a number of others are still in the talking stages.
There has been speculation recently about Drinker Biddle & Reath in possible merger talks with Delaware-based The Bayard Firm.
Now there's talk that the firm is discussing a possible merger with Chicago-based Gardner Carton & Douglas.
Drinker Biddle Chairman Alfred Putnam has said on both occasions that the firm does not discuss whether it is looking to acquire any specific firm.
"The comment is, there is no comment," Putnam said about the Gardner Carton merger rumors.
Mark Jungers, partner group leader for the Midwest offices of Major Lindsey & Africa, said that while Gardner Carton has been rumored to be in talks with several firms, the rumor about it and Drinker Biddle seems more credible.
He said it is not uncommon for firms to be in serious merger discussions with more than one firm at a time.
"Almost all of these things are long shots," Jungers said, adding that if a firm talks to just one firm at a time, a merger may never happen.
One legal consultant in Chicago who is familiar with 230-attorney Gardner Carton said the firm is "on the ropes" due to significant attrition in the last six months. According to the consultant, "partner and associate morale is in the pits."
Gardner Carton, the recruiter said, is near imploding and would only be saved by a merger.
Any firm looking to acquire Gardner Carton would most likely want to "cherry-pick" the attorneys it takes from the firm and avoid a complete acquisition, the recruiter said. A phone call seeking comment from the firm was not returned prior to press time.
It's easier to build a presence in Chicago with the acquisition of a large group, according to the recruiter, who said there are 55 out-of-town firms that have set up shop in Chicago.
Drinker Biddle entered the Chicago market in April 2005 with two partners from Kelley Drye & Warren, and the firm currently has five attorneys there.
Jungers said that while Gardner Carton has been through some tough spots lately, it still has a really strong health care practice and a strong bankruptcy practice.
Drinker Biddle also has a strong bankruptcy contingent. And The Bayard Firm focuses on the practice area as well.
When asked in April about Drinker Biddle's possible merger with the 25-attorney Bayard Firm, managing partner Andrew C. Kassner said Drinker Biddle does not generally comment on its discussions with other firms, adding, "like a lot of people, we talk to people."
Kassner, who is a bankruptcy attorney and does work in Delaware, said he has a lot of respect for The Bayard Firm and sees its attorneys in the Court of Chancery.
"I think that's where our relationship is today," he said in April. Kassner said his firm has previously outlined its goals to expand in bankruptcy, intellectual property and corporate and chancery work.
The Bayard Firm, as with many others, has practice groups in each of those areas.
The Bayard Firm Chairman Neil B. Glassman declined in April to comment on the possibility of a merger between his firm and Drinker Biddle.
In another potential merger, Pepper Hamilton had been rumored to be in talks with Rochester, N.Y.-based Nixon Peabody.
Pepper Hamilton executive partner Robert E. Heideck said in March that while Pepper Hamilton talks to merger candidates "all the time," the firm does not confirm or deny whether it is in talks with any one firm at any specific time.
However, a source in the legal community confirmed that Pepper Hamilton is in talks with Nixon Peabody.
Nixon Peabody is a larger firm than Pepper Hamilton, reporting on its Web site to have more than 600 attorneys. Nixon Peabody was ranked 64th on the latest Am Law 100 survey.
And less than two weeks ago, The Legal Intelligencer broke the news about a possible merger between two Pittsburgh firms, Buchanan Ingersoll and Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling.
If completed -- and barring any major defections or restructuring -- it would make the combined firm the largest in Pennsylvania with an estimated 313 lawyers in the state, according to the last survey conducted by PaLaw. Reed Smith is currently listed in PaLaw as the largest firm in Pennsylvania with 308 attorneys.
The combined firm would have approximately 532 lawyers across all offices, according to PaLaw.
Buchanan Ingersoll Chairman and CEO Thomas L. VanKirk and Klett Rooney President and managing partner John A. Barbour both confirmed last month that the firms were in talks, but said nothing has been finalized.
"We have had discussions with Klett Rooney just as we have had discussions with other firms," VanKirk said in May, adding that the firm is currently speaking with other firms as well.
VanKirk said that a final agreement has not been reached and neither firm's shareholders have voted.
Rumors Fuel Law Firm Merger Mania
Gina Passarella
The Legal Intelligencer
06-05-2006
"We can't confirm." "Yes, we're talking." "It's a done deal."
Responses to several merger rumors lately have come with varying replies, but there is one common thread: There are plenty of merger rumors to respond to. In talking to those in the legal community, it's apparent that a number of firms are talking. And at least one firm has gotten past the talking phase.
Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads has announced its merger with 11-attorney Crawford, Wilson & Ryan in West Chester, Pa.
The merger will become effective Aug. 1 and adds to the transactional and business side of Montgomery McCracken, firm Chairman Stephen A. Madva said.
Crawford Wilson focuses on business, corporate, real estate and land development, civil litigation and personal injury, estate, tax and family and domestic law.
Madva said the firm is very strong on the real estate side .
Montgomery McCracken is looking to grow to "comfortably over 200 attorneys," Madva said, adding that the 170-attorney firm currently has about 110 litigators and 60 attorneys on the business side.
Most of the additions will be on the business and transactional side, he said, and would "ideally" come in the form of additional mergers.
Within the past year the firm has added Tray Beck and Richard King, formerly of Reed Smith and Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, respectively, to its corporate practice, as well as bringing on former Common Pleas Court Judge Gene Cohen and Sula Baye of Dallas-based Andrews Kurth to bolster its litigation department. U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel B. Rosen will also join the firm Sept. 1.
Some of the attorneys from Crawford Wilson will remain in their West Chester office, while others will move to Montgomery McCracken's Berwyn, Pa., office.
Partners Fronefield Crawford Jr. and Kevin J. Ryan will work primarily from the Berwyn office, while Thomas R. Wilson will remain in the downtown West Chester office.
Of counsel attorneys Mike Imms, Julia Malloy-Good, Kim Denise Morton, Richard Morton and Andrea Pettine and associates Jonathan Boughrum, Andrew McReynolds and Kim Venzie are also expected to work out of suburban offices.
Ryan will become co-managing partner of the two offices, along with Montgomery McCracken partner Stephen G. Rhoads.
Madva said he has two years to decide what to do with the West Chester office but said it is an area he is most likely looking to grow.
While the Montgomery McCracken merger has already happened, a number of others are still in the talking stages.
There has been speculation recently about Drinker Biddle & Reath in possible merger talks with Delaware-based The Bayard Firm.
Now there's talk that the firm is discussing a possible merger with Chicago-based Gardner Carton & Douglas.
Drinker Biddle Chairman Alfred Putnam has said on both occasions that the firm does not discuss whether it is looking to acquire any specific firm.
"The comment is, there is no comment," Putnam said about the Gardner Carton merger rumors.
Mark Jungers, partner group leader for the Midwest offices of Major Lindsey & Africa, said that while Gardner Carton has been rumored to be in talks with several firms, the rumor about it and Drinker Biddle seems more credible.
He said it is not uncommon for firms to be in serious merger discussions with more than one firm at a time.
"Almost all of these things are long shots," Jungers said, adding that if a firm talks to just one firm at a time, a merger may never happen.
One legal consultant in Chicago who is familiar with 230-attorney Gardner Carton said the firm is "on the ropes" due to significant attrition in the last six months. According to the consultant, "partner and associate morale is in the pits."
Gardner Carton, the recruiter said, is near imploding and would only be saved by a merger.
Any firm looking to acquire Gardner Carton would most likely want to "cherry-pick" the attorneys it takes from the firm and avoid a complete acquisition, the recruiter said. A phone call seeking comment from the firm was not returned prior to press time.
It's easier to build a presence in Chicago with the acquisition of a large group, according to the recruiter, who said there are 55 out-of-town firms that have set up shop in Chicago.
Drinker Biddle entered the Chicago market in April 2005 with two partners from Kelley Drye & Warren, and the firm currently has five attorneys there.
Jungers said that while Gardner Carton has been through some tough spots lately, it still has a really strong health care practice and a strong bankruptcy practice.
Drinker Biddle also has a strong bankruptcy contingent. And The Bayard Firm focuses on the practice area as well.
When asked in April about Drinker Biddle's possible merger with the 25-attorney Bayard Firm, managing partner Andrew C. Kassner said Drinker Biddle does not generally comment on its discussions with other firms, adding, "like a lot of people, we talk to people."
Kassner, who is a bankruptcy attorney and does work in Delaware, said he has a lot of respect for The Bayard Firm and sees its attorneys in the Court of Chancery.
"I think that's where our relationship is today," he said in April. Kassner said his firm has previously outlined its goals to expand in bankruptcy, intellectual property and corporate and chancery work.
The Bayard Firm, as with many others, has practice groups in each of those areas.
The Bayard Firm Chairman Neil B. Glassman declined in April to comment on the possibility of a merger between his firm and Drinker Biddle.
In another potential merger, Pepper Hamilton had been rumored to be in talks with Rochester, N.Y.-based Nixon Peabody.
Pepper Hamilton executive partner Robert E. Heideck said in March that while Pepper Hamilton talks to merger candidates "all the time," the firm does not confirm or deny whether it is in talks with any one firm at any specific time.
However, a source in the legal community confirmed that Pepper Hamilton is in talks with Nixon Peabody.
Nixon Peabody is a larger firm than Pepper Hamilton, reporting on its Web site to have more than 600 attorneys. Nixon Peabody was ranked 64th on the latest Am Law 100 survey.
And less than two weeks ago, The Legal Intelligencer broke the news about a possible merger between two Pittsburgh firms, Buchanan Ingersoll and Klett Rooney Lieber & Schorling.
If completed -- and barring any major defections or restructuring -- it would make the combined firm the largest in Pennsylvania with an estimated 313 lawyers in the state, according to the last survey conducted by PaLaw. Reed Smith is currently listed in PaLaw as the largest firm in Pennsylvania with 308 attorneys.
The combined firm would have approximately 532 lawyers across all offices, according to PaLaw.
Buchanan Ingersoll Chairman and CEO Thomas L. VanKirk and Klett Rooney President and managing partner John A. Barbour both confirmed last month that the firms were in talks, but said nothing has been finalized.
"We have had discussions with Klett Rooney just as we have had discussions with other firms," VanKirk said in May, adding that the firm is currently speaking with other firms as well.
VanKirk said that a final agreement has not been reached and neither firm's shareholders have voted.
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