Merger of KC Firms Creates New Member of Top 100: Polsinelli Shughart
The list of the nation’s largest 100 law firms will have a new entrant with the merger of Polsinelli Shalton Flanigan Suelthaus and Shughart Thomson & Kilroy.
The merger of the two Kansas City law firms will likely take effect in January, the Kansas City Star reports. The new firm will be called Polsinelli Shughart and will have 480 lawyers in 13 offices.
Partners in the firms voted to approve the merger yesterday. The combined firm will be the second largest in Kansas City, the Denver Business Journal reports, and the fourth largest in Missouri. The vote comes just months after Kansas City-based Blackwell Sanders agreed to merge with St. Louis-based Husch & Eppenberger, creating a 630-lawyer firm, the story says.
The largest law firm based in Kansas City is Shook, Hardy & Bacon, according to the Business Journal.
The Kansas City Star story says Polsinelli has grown rapidly, largely in the area of debt financing, including securitization. The firm laid off about a dozen lawyers following the mortgage meltdown. Shughart is known for its expertise in commercial litigation.
The two firms began discussing a merger in July.
