Clark Hill announces merger with West Coast law firm

Clark Hill is merging with West Coast law firm Morris Polich & Purdy, a law firm with about 100 lawyers. The combined law firm will have more than 450 lawyers in 16 offices in nine states, according to a press release. The Am Law Daily (sub. req.) had a story…

Jul 6, 2017 12:15 PM CDT

Norton Rose and Chadbourne complete merger

Norton Rose Fulbright and Chadbourne & Parke have completed their merger, creating a law firm with about 4,000 lawyers in 59 offices located in 33 countries. According to the merger announcement on Friday, the firm will have about 1,000 lawyers in its U.S. practice, including more than 300 in New…

Jun 30, 2017 9:19 AM CDT

Workplace management software company iManage buys AI company RAVN

Workplace management software company iManage has acquired U.K.-based artificial intelligence company RAVN Systems. The companies announced the deal last month. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the press release (PDF), iManage plans on integrating RAVN’s artificially intelligent platform, which is capable of combing through massive amounts of…

Jun 22, 2017 11:30 AM CDT

Norton Rose ‘working through the technicalities’ of a merger with Chadbourne

Norton Rose Fulbright has announced it is “working through the technicalities” of a planned merger with Chadbourne & Parke. The announcement came after the Lawyer reported the merger had stalled because of client conflicts, Bloomberg Big Law Business reports. It also came the same day that a New York federal…

Jun 14, 2017 4:23 PM CDT

Tyler Technologies acquires online dispute resolution company Modria

Online dispute resolution company Modria has been acquired by Tyler Technologies. In a post published Monday by Bob Ambrogi of LawSites, the two companies announced their union at the end of May. Modria, which was co-founded in 2011 by Colin Rule, the designer of eBay’s automated online dispute resolution program,…

Jun 12, 2017 3:25 PM CDT

LexisNexis acquires case analytics firm Ravel Law

LexisNexis Legal & Professional has acquired legal research and litigation analytics firm Ravel Law, and will integrate Ravel's data visualization and profiling technology into LexisNexis services.

“Ravel Law will accelerate our vision of the data-driven lawyer of the future,” says Jeff Pfeifer, vice president of LexisNexis product management, in an interview after Thursday’s announcement. “By leveraging these platforms, an attorney can get insights about a variety of problems, from judicial tendencies to arguments that are effective in a judge’s chambers.”

Jun 8, 2017 2:49 PM CDT

Norton Rose Fulbright confirms merger talks with Australian law firm Henry Davis York

Norton Rose Fulbright and Australian law firm Henry Davis York have issued a statement confirming they are in merger talks. Partners will vote on the merger this summer, Legal Week reports. “Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright and leading Australian law firm Henry Davis York are exploring a potential combination…

Jun 8, 2017 9:28 AM CDT

Womble Carlyle to merge with UK-based law firm Bond Dickinson

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice is merging with U.K.-based law firm Bond Dickinson. The new firm will be called Womble Bond Dickinson, though both firms will operate as separate partnerships with separate management, according to a press release. Bloomberg Big Law Business, the Winston Salem-Journal and the News & Observer…

Jun 1, 2017 12:21 PM CDT

How to pull off a successful law firm merger

Experts agree that a merger should not be an endgame for its own sake. Instead, it should serve a broader business goal. For some firms, that might be reaching new markets or adding practice groups that clients are demanding. For other firms, that might be recruiting higher-caliber lawyers or creating efficiency.

“A law firm merger needs to further a strategic imperative that the firm arrived at in a clear-thinking way, and that imperative should not just be growth.”

Jun 1, 2017 5:10 AM CDT

Not ready for a merger? Law firm networks offer an expansion alternative

“With a global merger, there are so many hurdles you have to overcome in each jurisdiction,” says Hope Krebs, who co-chairs the international practice group at Duane Morris. “If you’re going to expend those resources, you’d better make sure you know what you’re getting. With a network, you know the quality of the lawyers. In a network, although resources are consumed, it’s nothing like a merger.”

Jun 1, 2017 5:05 AM CDT

Saul Ewing and Arnstein & Lehr confirm merger talks; must smaller firms ‘grow or die’?

Philadelphia-based Saul Ewing and Chicago-based Arnstein & Lehr have confirmed they are in merger talks. The combination would create a law firm with more than 400 lawyers, the Legal Intelligencer (sub req.) reports. Saul Ewing would gain offices in Chicago and Florida through the merger with Arnstein & Lehr, which…

May 24, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

International insurance law firm Kennedys to merge with New Jersey-based CMK

International insurance law firm Kennedys is gaining five U.S. offices through its merger with 100-lawyer Carroll, McNulty & Kull. Kennedys already has an office in Miami. The merger is scheduled to go in effect June 1 with New Jersey-based Carroll McNulty, and will give Kennedys offices in that state as…

May 5, 2017 10:56 AM CDT

DLA Piper to leave Georgia after Tbilisi office defects to Dentons

DLA Piper will withdraw from Georgia after losing all 11 of its lawyers based in the republic to rival Dentons. As Legalweek reported Wednesday, DLA Piper’s decision to pull out of Georgia comes during the same week the firm decided to abandon Berlin after losing its lawyers in the German…

Mar 23, 2017 12:45 PM CDT

Legal staffing company acquires competitor from accounting firm

A Chicago legal staffing firm has acquired an accounting firm’s contract attorney business. On Wednesday, Crain’s reported that Legalpeople has bought ProjecTemps, a Chicago-based contract attorney company owned by accounting firm Plante Moran. Terms of the deal were not announced, but according to Crain’s, the acquisition of ProjectTemps will add…

Mar 23, 2017 11:30 AM CDT

Dentons announces tie-up with Dutch firm Boekel

It’s March, so that means there must be another Dentons combination on the horizon. On Thursday, the firm entered the Netherlands by announcing a planned union with Dutch law firm Boekel. In a press release, the firm stated that partners at both firms have approved the tie-up, which is expected…

Mar 2, 2017 11:37 AM CST