No major surprise here… According to a report by Altman Weil? the number of new law firm mergers and acquisitions announced in the U.S. last year fell 24 percent from 2008.
The Baltimore Business Journal reports…..
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Out of the 53 marriages, 42 involved the acquisition of small law firms with 20 or fewer lawyers. Forty percent of the year?s law firm combinations were multi-regional or cross-border deals, up from 21.5 percent in 2008.
?This reflects law firms? cautious approach last year, as most firms spent 2009 focused on internal issues of cost cutting, layoffs, and compensation adjustments in response to the Great Recession,? said Ward Bower, principal at Newtown Square, Pa.-based management consulting firm. ?But we expect to see an uptick in 2010 as deals currently on hold pending 2009 year-end results are finalized.?
The biggest deal of the year was Washington, D.C.-based Hogan & Hartson LLP and British law firm Lovells LLP?s announced merger, which will create one of the world?s largest law firms with 2,500 lawyers and total revenues of approximately $1.8 billion. The deal is projected to close in May.
Hogan & Hartson has an office in Baltimore and is the region’s 10th-largest firm when ranked by the numbers of lawyers based locally.
Two other sizeable combinations happened last year. In January, Pittsburgh-based K&L Gates LLP, a 1,700-lawyer international law firm, announced the purchase of Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP with 250 lawyers in Chicago, San Diego and D.C. Another big deal was Boston-based Bingham McCutchen LLP?s addition of 120-lawyer McKee Nelson LLP, which bolstered its D.C. and New York offices.
http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2010/01/04/daily36.html
