Law Firm Merger Mania: The Fate of Tyler Cooper
As we previously reported, the fate of Tyler Cooper & Alcorn, one of Connecticut’s most venerable law firms, was up in the air for a while. There were rumors of dissolution, but managing partner William Fish told ATL that the firm was merely in merger talks.
It seems that those talks have borne fruit. Over the past week, we started receiving many emails from Connecticut tipsters about Tyler Cooper. (We had no idea we had such a fan base in Connecticut.)
Here’s one of them:
Tyler Cooper’s collapse (reported last month here) is now official. A number of partners and associates are leaving Tyler Cooper to join LeClairRyan, a growing national law firm. The change will come later this month. The partners just started notifying friends and clients….They will take over the space of Tyler Cooper in New Haven. No word on whether Tyler Cooper will even still exist, but the fact that LeClair Ryan will have the same mailing address as the former Tyler Cooper can’t be a good sign.
We reached out to both firms yesterday. Tyler Cooper did not get back to us. LeClair Ryan partner David I. Greenberg responded: “It is our Firm’s policy not to confirm or deny rumors related to lateral hires.”
But another firm that’s scooping up Tyler Cooper attorneys was willing to comment. Read more after the jump.
Tipsters also told us that Tyler Cooper’s Hartford office was being swallowed up by the New England law firm of Hinckley, Allen & Snyder. Hinckley Allen didn’t get back to us (we contacted them yesterday), but today they issued this press release, summarized in the Connecticut Law Tribune:
Hinckley, Allen & Snyder announced this morning that it will open a Hartford office on Sept. 15 after adding 25 lawyers from New Haven-based Tyler Cooper.The transitioning lawyers include all of Tyler Cooper’s financial services professionals and business services partners, as well as eight of its commercial litigation and employment law partners. The trusts and estates department also will join Hinckley Allen, which has other offices in Boston, Providence and Concord, N.H.
The new additions include Tyler Cooper’s former managing partner William S. Fish Jr., who practices business law.
Turmoil in the world of Biglaw is well-chronicled in these pages. But as the case of Tyler Cooper shows, even midsize and regional law firms are encountering challenges.
Firms like Tyler Cooper offer their lawyers a fairly sophisticated practice outside of mega-cities like New York and Boston. But whether such firms can continue to do so, or whether they will be folded into larger firms based out of larger markets, is an open question.
Hinckley, Allen & Snyder Adds 25 Connecticut Attorneys [Connecticut Law Tribune]
Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP Enters Connecticut Market [Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP]
(24) 
Comments
first twice!
second
That's a shade ironic, since everybody at LeClair seems to be bolting for greener pastures...
3, not sure how a firm that went from 80 lawyers to 290 in 2 years qualifies as "everybody...bolting" but you may have more insight into the Virginia bar scene than I do
sham-wow, fifth
People are always asking me if I know Tyler Cooper.
Cooper Tires are great. I have them on my Mini-Cooper.
3 here
I should have been more specific- I meant in Virginia. I've met at least a half dozen attorneys through OCI that have left LeClair in the past couple of years. A troubling ratio
3, 4 here. Gotcha. Probably so, but that's typical of large expansion. More guys at the table mean different shares of the pie. If you've already got a big piece, that can be bad news. (But if you can make the pie bigger, that's good news.) Don't know much about the Virginia guys, but the NJ and NY guys are stellar.
Tyler who?
Baba Booey!
what happens to Tyler Cooper's new associates starting in September?
Wow. Some firm I've never heard of ceases to exist.
What's going on with Thelen/Nixon Peabody??
Tyler Cooper cut loose their entire summer class. They've also told two persons currently in clerkships, scheduled to begin work there next year to look for other venues.
Whoever 2:13 is doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. LeClairRyan has doubled in size in the past 18 months from less than 150 to almost 300 today. In that time period it's probably been the fastest-growing firm in the nation.
Connecticut summers got pretty badly whacked. All of Tyler Cooper's summers got axed. Robinson & Cole is no offering as well. Pepe and Hazard also pulled out of OCI at UConn.
Thelen summers all got shown the door as well.
Thelen summers all got shown the door as well.
At least some other firms in CT are doing well like Day Pitney, Pullman & Comley and Wiggin which I saw on campus the last week or so.
@17 - R&C only no-offered one person. Rumor is that he was just a real douche.
@20 - Pullman & Comley is in Bridgeport. You might as well just carjack yourself now and get it over with.
Oh, and there was a story on Tyler COoper in the Hartford Courant today - they're done. No merger, apparently.
Wow-rough comment on Bridgeport. Is the perception that it is that much worse than any other CT big city?
Wow, #13, I'm sure the Tyler Cooper lawyers are crushed that you never heard of them. Your comment is more a disclosure of your own ignorance than a slight on TCA. Probably best for you to keep your cockholster shut lest you embarrass yourself further.
#21: Pullman & Comley is in Hartford, Stamford and Bridgeport and apparently is adding space to accomodate growth.