Law Firm Mergers

The merger between Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe will take longer than expected. From the WSJ: The proposed merger between law firms Dewey Ballantine LLP and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has encountered a delay. Meanwhile, Dewey Ballantine has lost some leading partners. The full partnerships of both firms were due to vote […]

As helpfully noted by a commenter, the news is now official. As previously rumored, the law firms of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham and Preston Gates & Ellis are getting hitched. The merger will be effective January 1, 2007. According to the official press release, the new entity will be called “Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston […]

Law Firm Mergers: * One of Seattle’s top firms, Davis Wright Tremaine, is acquiring D.C-based Cole, Raywid & Braverman, a telecom boutique with 35 lawyers. The acquisition will be effective on January 1. Lateral Moves: * Intellectual property/M&A lawyer Leonard Jacoby, to Cleary Gottlieb, from Wilson Sonsini. Jacoby’s practice focuses on IP issues related to […]

At the White House: Positions in the White House Counsel’s office are some of the most prestigious and interesting jobs in the entire legal profession. And now two new lawyers are coming on board as associate counsels to the president: * Christopher Oprison, formerly of Skadden Arps (Washington, DC); and Cheryl Stanton, a former law […]

Law Firm Mergers: Actually, they’re really acquisitions: * Washington-based Crowell & Moring is building up its New York office by acquiring King Pagano Harrison, the health care/labor-and-employment boutique, and by picking up partners from IP boutique Morgan & Finnegan. * Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle & Reath is “merging” with Chicago-based Gardner Carton & Douglas. The new […]

After we posted Dewey Ballantine: “We’ll Have What She’s Having,” we received this email from one of you: Picking up on the sexual overtones of the Dewey Ballantine / Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe merger, and with apologies for how vulgar and puerile this is: Is anyone calling the new firm Dewy Orifice? Uh, we are! […]

We often compare law firm mergers to weddings. And other folks do, too. So if law firm mergers are marriages, how do they get consummated? Enough about the wedding; what about the honeymoon? One ATL reader had some thoughts on the matter: Sorry to continue to batter you with sexual innuendo, but Law.com — which […]

In the wake of the Dewey/Orrick and Thelen Reid/Brown Raysman announcements, here’s news of yet another law firm merger. But this one is a bit smaller than the last two: One of New Jersey’s oldest and largest firms, Pitney Hardin, is merging with Connecticut’s biggest, Day, Berry & Howard, to create a 395-lawyer power with […]

On the heels of the Dewey Ballantine/Orrick announcement, news of another law firm merger: Partners at Thelen Reid & Priest and New York’s Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner voted to combine the two firms Monday, creating a 617-lawyer firm that, based on last year’s revenue, would have placed 56th on the Am Law 100 […]

* Gay marriages legally-cognizable-relationships-that-will-probably-get-called-civil-unions are coming to New Jersey. * Superstar lawyer Ted Olson, who is not gay, got married — to a lovely lady named Lady. And ATL has the exclusive photos to prove it. * Law firms are tying the knot too. The latest to head for the altar: Dewey Ballantine and Orrick. […]

As previously rumored, megafirms Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe are heading for the altar. From Nathan Koppel’s article for the Wall Street Journal: Yesterday, the executive committees of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP of San Francisco and Dewey Ballantine LLP of New York approved the main terms of a merger. The combined firm, […]

In our post last month about the merger of Cooley Godward and Kronish Lieb, we wondered aloud: And What About Mr. Lieb? His name was unceremoniously dumped from the moniker of the new entity, which will be known as “Cooley Godward Kronish.” Ouch. Readers have subsequently informed us of what Richard Lieb is up to […]

“Small is beautiful.” That seems to be the trend with cell phones, digital cameras — and, of course, law firm names: DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary has officially shortened its name to DLA Piper. One of the world’s largest law firms with 3,100 lawyers, DLA Piper is the culmination of a series of mergers, beginning […]

Merger mania continues inside the world of Biglaw. Here’s the latest pair of firms to tie the knot: Cooley Godward LLP, a 445-lawyer law firm known for its representation of West Coast technology companies, plans to merge with Kronish Lieb Weiner & Hellman LLP, a 110-lawyer New York firm specializing in commercial litigation, bankruptcy and […]