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Dewey Chair Says Merger Helps Firm Weather Poor Economy

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 30, 2008, 1:07 pm CDT

Dewey & LeBoeuf chairman Steven Davis is crediting the 2007 merger that created his law firm with helping protect it during the recent economic meltdown.

Davis told the National Law Journal that the bigger firm is better. Because it is more diverse and more focused on the global market it can more easily withstand a downturn in its structured finance practice, he said. Greater size also brought with it a greater ability to attract clients and talent, he said. As an example he points to bankruptcy partner Martin Bienenstock, who jumped to the firm from Weil, Gotshal & Manges.

“Size, in and of itself, gives you greater flexibility in key markets,” he told the National Law Journal. “In a certain respect, you’re taken more seriously when you have 500, 600 attorneys in New York. That creates more visibility than either firm had before.”

Legal work in China and the Middle East is plentiful, he told the legal newspaper, and the firm expects to see more bankruptcy work as well. The firm is closing four offices, but three of the shutdowns are part of the firm’s strategy to focus on major commercial centers, Davis said. Only the closing of an office in Charlotte, N.C., is because of a decline in work.

Dewey & LeBoeuf is the product of a 2007 merger between Dewey Ballantine and LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. The story says the merger is unusual because it combined two law firms already centered in New York.