Biglaw, Law Firm Mergers

Holy Moly! A Gigantic Transatlantic Merger For Foley?

It looks like Foley & Lardner may finally have found the law firm of its dreams.

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As the end of the fourth quarter draws near, merger activity between law firms has been picking up at rapid speed. While everyone was gawking at Dentons’ latest planned combinations with 500-lawyer Australian firm Gadens and 200-lawyer Singaporean firm Rodyk & Davidson, another Biglaw firm’s potential transatlantic tie-up flew in under the radar.

In case you haven’t heard, it looks like Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner may soon be walking down the aisle with London-based Eversheds and its sexy Swiss verein. If you work for either firm but haven’t received an invitation to the reception, it’s because both sides have been keeping their talks about holy matrimony rather hush-hush.

Here are some additional details from Law 360 (sub. req.):

In terms of per-lawyer metrics, Eversheds and Foley & Lardner are a near match, with Eversheds reporting profits per equity partner in the 2014-15 fiscal year of £740,000 ($1.14 million), up 2 percent from the previous year.

Foley & Lardner, which has more than 800 lawyers in 17 domestic branches and three overseas office, saw profits per equity partner rise nearly 11 percent last year to $1.06 million, according to the latest data from The American Lawyer. The firm’s gross revenue was $665 million, up more than 3 percent.

[Ed. note: Eversheds has approximately 1,200 lawyers in its 55 offices across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East.]

According to U.K. publication Legal Business, while Foley is Eversheds’s number one choice for a merger partner, the wannabe Magic Circle firm may have a wandering eye. As a spokesperson from Eversheds noted: “While we appreciate that there will be speculation on our progress, a number of options remain open to us and until we are clear on the way forward it would be wholly inappropriate to comment further.”

It’s terribly polite that Eversheds won’t kiss and tell, but we hope our readers will. Do you have any insider information on the budding romance between Foley & Lardner and Eversheds? Please drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you.

Best wishes to Foley and Eversheds! Marriage — even between law firms — is beautiful.

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Eversheds inches closer to US tie-up as Foley & Lardner emerges as front runner [Legal Business]
Foley, Eversheds Talks Signal More Trans-Atlantic Tie-Ups [Law 360 (sub. req.)]

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