Has Dickstein Shapiro Found A (New) Rescuer?

The firm's last proposed merger fell apart, but sources say this latest transaction is a "done deal."

onJanuary 22, 2016 at 3:05 PMJanuary 26, 2016 at 9:21 PM

sinking ship When we last checked in with Dickstein Shapiro, the troubled and defection-plagued law firm was hoping to take shelter inside Bryan Cave. But then, in late December, that possible deal ran into trouble, amid concerns that certain key Dickstein partners wouldn’t commit to stick around post-merger.

And departures from the firm continue. In Dickstein Shapiro’s home base of D.C., for example, Barbara “Biz” Van Gelder decided to take her biz to Cozen O’Connor, and Washington managing partner Richard Leveridge just left as well.

Luckily for the 150 or so lawyers still at Dickstein Shapiro, it seems that the firm might have a new suitor, according to Bloomberg’s Big Law Business:

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From LexisNexis

Washington, D.C. law firm Dickstein Shapiro is in talks to combine — at least in part — with the larger Blank Rome of Philadelphia, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

The discussions, according to the sources, are advanced: one former Dickstein partner who is speaking with his former colleagues described the talks as “deep,” while another former Dickstein partner said “it’s a done deal.”

The latter former Dickstein partner said that the two firms have reached an agreement to combine by the end of the month and the deal has been in the works for at least the past couple weeks. Terms of the deal could not be determined.

Like, for example, the name of the new entity. Blank Dickstein, anyone?

This wouldn’t exactly be a mega-merger if it happens. Many Dickstein Shapiro lawyers are expected to go elsewhere, and the two firms already aren’t huge in either headcount or revenue:

Dickstein, which has fewer than 150 lawyers and is based in Washington, D.C., is known for its practices in litigation, insurance recovery, intellectual property and government contracts, while Blank Rome, with about 470 lawyers, is a larger full-service firm based in Philadelphia….

According to The American Lawyer, the two firms had closely aligned revenues per lawyer as of 2014: Blank Rome has approximately 470 lawyers and about $700,000 revenue per lawyer. Dickstein had about $960,000 in revenue per lawyer.

Dickstein, at least as of 2014 had around $1 million profits per partner with $192 million in revenue, while Blank Rome had $825,000 profits per partner with $331 million in revenue.