Chicago law firm mergers

So the business case to becoming a super-regional firm was compelling. Also, specific synergies between the two firms made that business case even stronger. Since the merger, revenue is up about 65 percent.

It creates the right incentives. Firm leadership must define criteria that will guide them and then remain faithful to that criteria through the process. A merger, adds firm management consultant John Olmstead in St. Experts offer specific tips for the process of merging once a firm decides the approach is in its best interest.

Brad Hildebrandt, a New Jersey-based law firm consultant, suggests keeping preliminary meetings between the two firms small. You have to put it out there [to the wider firm] or you have a timing problem.

But before spending months and months on a merger, Hildebrandt says leaders should work quickly to resolve potential deal breakers. First and foremost, firms must look very early for conflicts, particularly business conflicts in which the two firms represent clients that compete with each other.

Even if conflicts are overcome, sometimes merger talks fail for more personal reasons, Hildebrandt adds. Partners can have an extreme emotional attachment to the legacy firm, making them unable to get behind a new combination.

No one wants to be second. My advice? Put off the name discussion a little bit. Let people get excited about the merger first. That said, law firms must also have the discipline to end discussions when necessary.

When it comes to practice compatibility, variables such as the level of sophistication commoditized vs. Does one firm typically represent management while the other represents labor? Is one primarily a plaintiffs firm and the other more defense? How are client relationships established and nurtured? Financial compatibility is also essential.

Compensation, of course, is a critical facet of a deal. He has counseled numerous law firms on tie-ups, including Brinks on its recent merger with Crowell.

And, in an exceptionally active talent market for both partners and associates, firms appreciate the benefit of having a larger profit pool to attract and retain the best talent, he said.

Firms, even those in the Am Law 50 and 25 range, are either discussing possible combinations or actively pursuing them, he added. To contact the reporter on this story: Meghan Tribe in New York at mtribe bloomberglaw.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebekah Mintzer at rmintzer bloomberglaw. To read more articles log in. Lubin Austermuehle is a business litigation firm located in Chicago, Illinois and serves individuals, small businesses, and large corporations. Practice areas include shareholder, owner, LLC member, and partnership We listen to our clients and there is a growing desire for legal and business services to be delivered in an easier and more efficient way.

So, we've built our business and designed our range of services on this Our hundreds of partners Welcome to our firm. Our story begins more than four and a half decades ago in San Francisco, when Stu Gordon and Don Rees put aside their rival allegiances to Cal and Stanford to create a law firm dedicated to Culhane Meadows is proudly shaking up the legal marketplace by offering exceptional, yet highly-efficient and cost-effective, client services provided exclusively by partner-level attorneys with substantial experience We are principally trial lawyers, having taken over 95 cases to jury verdict since our founding.