It's Official: K&L Gates and Bell Boyd OK Merger; Firm to Have Nearly 2K Lawyers
An “overwhelming” yes vote today by partners of both firms has made it official: Pittsburgh-based K&L Gates and Chicago’s Bell Boyd & Lloyd will merge March 1.
With the addition of Bell Boyd’s approximately 250 attorneys, K&L Gates will have about 1,900 lawyers in 31 offices, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times.
The Bell Boyd merger is only the latest chapter in an string of acquisitions that presumably is ongoing:
“Last year, K&L gobbled up Hughes & Luce, a 150-lawyer Dallas firm, and Kennedy Covington (Lobdell & Hickman), a 175-attorney firm in Charlotte,” writes the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
While those two mergers accounted for most of the increase last year on K&L Gates’ attorney roster, which lengthened from 1,235 to 1,552 names, the firm also added international offices in Paris and Shanghai, reports American Lawyer.
“Although the number of equity partners grew from 243 to 284, the nonequity ranks saw a much larger increase, jumping from 365 to 495,” the magazine notes.
Earlier ABAJournal.com coverage:
