Law Firm Merger Mania: Seyfarth Shaw + Squire Sanders?
Here is yet another rumor — somewhat better sourced than the Thacher Proffitt / King & Spalding rumor, but a rumor nonetheless — about a possible law firm merger.
Word on the street is that Seyfarth Shaw is seeking a merger partner. This should not come as a shock, since Seyfarth has been stumbling a bit due to the downturn. As previously reported, the firm has pushed back start dates and trimmed its lawyer ranks.
The Seyfarth partnership recently returned from its retreat, where strategic opportunities were discussed. The scuttlebutt is that the firm is in “serious” merger talks with another firm of roughly equal size. Upon information and belief, that firm is Squire Sanders.
Both firms hover around the 800-attorney mark. The product of their merger — nicknamed “S4” by one tipster, standing for either “Seyfarth Shaw Squire Sanders” or “Squire Sanders Seyfarth Shaw” — would be a 1600-lawyer behemoth. The combination would give Seyfarth a coveted foothold in Bratislava.
Associate meetings were held in all Seyfarth Shaw offices earlier this afternoon. Associates were briefed on the retreat and told about ongoing merger talks with another firm. Details are scarce; the confidential nature of the merger talks was stressed to the associates “about a dozen times.”
Whether these talks will bear fruit is anyone’s guess. Lately law-firm merger talks have been falling at a high rate.
We’ll keep you posted. If you have any info to share, please email us. Thanks.
(81) Comments
Comments
firsty
first to say TTT
crap + crap = still crap
GULC + UPenn State = TTT
I just interviewed with Seyfarth as a lateral...would a merger increase or decrease my chances of getting an offer?
I just interviewed with Seyfarth as a lateral...would a merger increase or decrease my chances of getting an offer?
5,6 -- irrelevant. you fucked up the interview and will not receive an offer regardless of any merger scenarios.
Seyfarth is actually on pace for about a 5% increase in profit this year which in the current state of the economy is pretty impressive.
Read this post and said to myself, "Not bad, Elie!" (Especially considering the garbage as of late.) Then checked and saw that it was Lat. Lat, please put Elie out of his misery. I wanted him to succeed, but he just doesn't have it.
Thanks,
Long-time, multiple-times-per-day ATL reader and commenter
Squire Sanders is seriously a piece of garbage firm. I interviewed there a while back for a position (not sure why i bothered even considering them) and thought that the partners and associates that i met were complete morons.
They should just dissolve.
10 - Let me guess, you didn't get offered the job. Hence the bitterness.
Those "complete morons" still managed to pull in over $500 million in revenue last year....
9 = Marin
I like the link to Bratislava, nice touch. It's so hot right now.
About 9 years ago Squire Sanders came close to a merger with Chcago's Bell Boyd & Loyd. The deal foundered on various accounting and financial issues. At the time Squire Sanders had an unusual accrual system of accounting and various complexities with its retirement account funding mechanisms. That and other factors caused the deal to stall.
15: SSD has left a number of firms at the alter, most recently Bryan Cave ( I think last year). They did mergers with Graham & James (west coast) and Steel Hector (FL and latin america) in the last 5-7 years.
As a Hamline JD/MBA in the top half of his class, I must say that Squire Sanders has been pretty relentless in recruiting me.
10, if that's true, they should fit right in with Seyfarth Shaw. Not impressed with the human capital there.
Props to 15 for using "foundered" properly!
Seyfarth certainly has not been "stumbling." In fact, due to its large L&E practice, business has been booming over there (people get fired in a crap economy and sue their employers). Making sound decisions about hiring does not evidence anything other than good management. When it is all said and done, Seyfarth will have a far more lucrative year than many of the bigfirms out there which rely largely on corporate work (excluding, of course, the big NY shops who are handling all of this Wall Street business).
Heller Ehrman is belly up and no longer exists.
This was the new EIC's best post yet, esp. link to Bratislava. Nice work, Ellie!
scooped by cnn
22: It's a Lat post.
Hey, maybe we can get Cornell Tyler on staff and double the output of poop bags being hucked on my screen each day.
SSSSo what?
Seyfarth Shaw is just a front to get bodies in the door. Once through GULCers spring forth and GULC your face until you resemble Greta VanSus. Don't go!!!!
23 - I don't think CNN cares about law firm mergers.
11 - Wrong. I was just shocked that some of the people working there actually graduated from a law school - much less having found jobs at a so called "major" firm
13 = Elie
-9 (and definitely not Elie--I have a sweet gig right now billing 20 hours/month, no need to work "full-time" as ATL EIC)
The funny thing is that you clowns end up caring so much about size, as in total size. If this merger goes through three years from now some dumbazz law student will be bragging about how he's going to Seyfarth Squire, a 1,600 lawyer firm, the 5th biggest firm or whatever in America. So it does matter dumbazzes.
20 = Seyfarth spokesperson
27 - im talking about the stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis. Lat would have had the Matt Drudge siren shining bright long before cnn's breaking news banner.
-23
Turdy-turd
Hey! Where all da white women at?
16 - I don't think SSD left Bryan Cave at the altar. That was the other way around.
Squire is a shittily run firm that somehow makes a nice bit of change.
Seyfarth is desperately trying to downsize the amount of leverage L & E has related to the other practice areas (with a modicum of success). Outside of wage and hour and union work, L & E cannot justify the billable hours rates, even under a blended rate scenario. That's why big national firms have been shedding or de-emphasizing their L & E practices.
Seyfarth is a conservatively run firm that is trying to become big time. Squire Sanders is merely looking for a groom. However, I'd be suprised if this marriage happens.
Note that under an Obama Administration, unions are banking that legislation making it easier for employees to unionize will pass. This will bring in gobs of new, premium billable work for Seyfarth (whih has a strong union practice in its Chicago office).
- Anti Seyfarth (generally)
Why don't you just call Steve Poor, Seyfarth's managing partner, for comment? He's very approachable and forthcoming.
What happen all the goings on over at Ice Miller?
Aaaayyy hibbity wid da dibbitty......
I knew this was by Lat even before I read the byline. The quality of writing and subject matter were high. Elie, kick it up a notch.
What happens when you have a firm paying less than market (Seyfarth) merge with one that is (Squire)? Do the lower paying firm associates get raised to the new market salary, is there some hybrid where Seyfarth associates would be one one scale while Squire associates would be on another?
Ebonics = TTT
41 - When this situation has presented itself in the past, everybody in the firm was required to wear ass-less chaps the first Tuesday after the merger was consummated. That usually solved the discrepancy in pay between the firm paying less than market (Seyfarth) and the firm paying market (Squire).
What's up with Ice Miller?
Seyfarth is only below market for 1st and 2nd years. From third year on (i.e., once you have some experience and are worth it), associates are paid market and the top performers are paid well above market. It's how all firms should operate.
I know, I know, all of you 1st and 2nd years who troll this site are going to bitch and moan about it, but you really aren't worth the money your paychecks are printed on, and Seyfarth is actually making the smart business decision.
36 - do you have any idea what you are talking about? In addition to the killing it is making in its wage and hour practice, Seyfarth makes money hand over fist doing single plaintiff work. It's not de-emphasizing that type of work, its expanding it. In addition, although real estate is slow (which is where the layoffs occurred), litigation, corporate, and IP are also doing very well this year.
You are a retard.
I don't know anything about Squire, but I have to say, the people I know at Seyfarth are very good attorneys and surprisingly happy with their jobs.
Ice Miller? Miller ...Miller.....Miller?
Squire acquired Graham and James and Steel Hector because both firms were just about dead. Those were acquisitions of dying firms where a lot of the talent has already fled, not mergers. Bryan Cave's partners turned down the merger with Squire Sanders.
45: You are wrong. I am at Seyfarth, and in NY only, we pay market to first years. After that, you are on a ranged scale for each year, and the top of each scale is market for that year. However, it is very difficult to get placed at the top of the range. To be there, you need incredibly good reviews, bill a crapload, and have some origination to your name. In L.A., Houston Chicago and other places, the scale is even lower. First years are at 145k, and everyone else is on the same lame scale. While a 4th year can technically make 210k, it almost never happens. This site even published our friggin comp memo months ago. Get your facts straight, dickcheese.
Squire doesn't really pay market either - partially because most of their associates are in "non-market" cities where you can generally get away with it. Not even in Los Angeles. They pay market in San Francisco (roughly) but don't do the same to associates in LA. Nice.
This sucks. No one cares about Seysquid.
*'mistakenly' compliments Elie on this post in a transparent attempt to demonstrate how much better Lat is*
50 - 45 here. I too work at Seyfarth, and I make above market. Just because you are too incompetent to make the high end of the scale does not make it "very difficult." I'm at the high end every year, and I have never billed over 2100 hours and have no origination. Not that your post is surprising, anyone who was doing well at the firm wouldn't feel the need to trash it on here. So maybe you should get your facts straight (or at least start working a little harder rather than trolling this website), you fucking retard.
As a repeated top performer in Chicago, let me settle once and for all that Seyfarth does not pay "market" for mid levels and above. Even if you're at the top end of the range for your class year and have excellent reviews, you will still not earn what someone similarly situated at a real firm will earn. "Market" salaries are still 5% higher when compared to the best possible performers at Seyfarth. Bonuses at real firms are easily 50% higher. That's just the facts. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not have a clue about "market" and is likely born and bred LE at Seyfarth.
Associate bonuses will NEVER exceed 40K, no matter your hours. How in the world can that be market?
Reviews have to be across the board (virtually 100%) "Exceptional" to get full raise - only a few pets make that, so only a few people are at the top of the published categories. With regards to comp memo, they came back during reviews and said 'well, maybe that was overstating the ranges.'
It looks like there are a lot of Seyfarth plants on this board.
Hey 45, how is it that you can make above market at Seyfarth, when the salary range for each year maxes out at market? I think the answer is simply that you are completely full of shit, and you are some idiot 2L who is going to be summering there, wanting to make the firm sound better than it actually is.
sound better than it is?? Is this where we've come? Why is it that a firm that pays its associates $160K and gives 20K in bonuses considered to be below average? True, its not the top of the market, but I'd take 160K + 20K in bonuses for the rest of my career.
58, it doesn't.
59 -- it does.
57 - I cant speak for other offices, but in Boston, mid- and upper-level associates who receive "exceptional" and "exceed" ratings generally are paid slightly higher than market salaries (excluding bonus). And, they are generally much happier than their peers at other firms and doing much more substantive work.
Not 45
As a side note - not sure if this corroborates or not - a domain name search shows someone at Seyfarth has reserved www. seyfarthshawsquire.com and www.squireseyfarthshaw.com.
As a side note - not sure if this corroborates or not - a domain name search shows someone at Seyfarth (supposedly) has reserved www. seyfarthshawsquire.com and www.squireseyfarthshaw.com.
56 - 36 here. You are spot on.
46, please re-read my post. I did not say Seyfarth was down-sizing single-plaintiff work. I said other, "real" national firms have downsized their L&E departments because of the billing issues accompanying single-plaintiff litigation. Even Seyfarth has issues in this area - that's why they outsource first drafts of SJMs in single plaintiff cases to bullshit Indian firms.
Lastly, if Seyfarth is doing so well, why do they want to merge with the likes of Squire? It's called survival, shithead.
Just out of curiosity, how long does it generally take for such a merger to consummate?
From the SSD website:
"...our Bratislava office is one of the strongest all-around practices of any law firm in Bratislava."
LOLZ!!!
Registrant:
Johnson, Francis
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
131 S. Dearborn St.
Suite 2400
Chicago, IL 60603-5577
US
Domain Name: SQUIRESANDERSSEYFARTH.COM
67 here,
same deal for:
seyfarthshawsquire.com
squireseyfarth.com
seyfarthsquire.com
All registered on September 22nd
What is the big deal about registered domain names? It could simply be precautionary. Do any of you think that it is a sure sign of merger?
any news on the potential merger?
Interested 2L
It was called off in light off due to McCain's decision not to debate.
maybe learn how to write in English and we'll all understand the point that you're trying to make. Asswipe.
Maybe one or two associates per office are at market. Everyone else, including so-called "exceeds," is well below and the bonuses suck. Firm management itself lies about this to partners, let alone associates, so I'm not surprised a few people are arguing about it here. There's a lot of misinformation.
That said, everyone is nice, people take vacations, and partners don't call Friday night with weekend projects.
Trade offs.
I worked at Seyfarth. They suck.
74 - good riddance
74 - Seyfarth here. Fuck off, you were fired because you were incompetent.
76 - Just like a Seyfarth attorney to use a comma splice.
77 -- Just like a Seyfarth reject to be a douche bag. I understand that you just learned the term "comma splice," but you are still a fucking retard.
If they merge, where will the HQ be, and what will be the name of the new firm?
78 - try again.
This is an odd, but good merger. Not sure how Seyfarth's huge L&E practice melds with SSD's big public finance and restructuring practices. Should be interesting.
From what I hear, this is very far from done. They are still many months away from partners votes at both firms.