Big out-of-state firms seek New York midsize firms, but who’s left?
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Personals: Large, successful, single Midwestern law firm, with interests in litigation, financial services, health care, and employment seeks well-established, midsize New York law firm with interests in M&A, bankruptcy, and corporate law for long-lasting, profitable relationship. Let’s talk and get to know each other. Good luck, LSSM law firm. These days, you’ve got about as much chance of finding your mate as the fat pimply kid has of taking the head cheerleader to the prom. Of course, it’s not that such a combination is impossible. It’s just that, given all the law firm mergers in the last few years, particularly those pairing out-state-firms with midsize New York firms, the odds of finding such a merger partner are slim at best, especially with a “well-established” New York midsizer. That doesn’t stop major out-of-state firms from wining and dining what they consider to be Big Apple merger candidates, even if they get turned down repeatedly and even if the candidates aren’t headquartered in New York. Milwaukee-based, 1,000-attorney Foley & Lardner, for example, which has offices in more than a dozen key US cities but not in New York, recently sought 300-attorney Edwards & Angell, which is based in Providence but has a New York office. After months of serious courting, F&L saw the acquisition fall through in late December. Still, its hunt goes on. Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, a 300-attorney Los Angeles-based firm, recently negotiated with New York’s 60-attorney Hall Dickler Kent Goldstein & Wood only to have those talks dissolve. It did, however, convince 10 of Hall Dickler’s advertising law attorneys to join the firm, bolstering an already existing New York presence. In December, Manatt, Phelps acquired a 12-lawyer New York litigation boutique, Parcher Hayes & Snyder. Law firm consultants who help introduce merger candidates and negotiate consolidations are staying busy as New York-less firms, and those who want more attorneys in their small New York offices, keep searching. “I’ve talked to virtually every midsize firm that remains in New York over the past. |