Midsize Firm Leaders Awash in Big Law Merger Offers
This is the second installation in a two-part series about consolidation in the legal industry, and how it affects midsize firms. The first part discussed midsize firms acquiring smaller firms.
As midsize firms use bite-size mergers to regionalize and specialize, an increasing number of large firms are jumping on the M&A bandwagon, taking bigger chomps out of the legal mid-market in pursuit of marketshare.
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Filling Out the Map, Or the Menu
Barry Genkin, an M&A lawyer at Blank Rome, who has worked on several law firm mergers, said midsize firms that choose to merge are rarely in desperate need of a lifeboat. Instead, he said, combinations often take place when midsize firms—particularly those without a niche focus—are looking for a way to keep their best lawyers from leaving. Oftentimes those lawyers are trying to grow their platform, through access to other cities and practice areas.
And for the larger, acquiring firm, a midsize shop can offer a strong entry into a new practice area or region.
“If a large firm is doing a combination with say a 100-person law firm in a geography they’re not presently in, that’s a strong enough foothold that you can then attract more lawyers,” Genkin said.
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"Midsize Firm Leaders Awash in Big Law Merger Offers," by Lizzy McLellan was published in The Mid-Market Report on August 30, 2018.