Mergers & Acquisitions

Verrill Dana merges with litigation boutique

Verrill Dana has announced a merger with litigation boutique Friedman Gaythwaite Wolf. The merger, effective on Thursday, creates a firm with 118 lawyers that is the second largest in Maine, report the Bangor Daily News and Mainebiz. It will use the Verrill Dana name. Verrill Dana managing partner K.C. Jones…

Aug 2, 2013 4:54 PM CDT

Merger creates one of the world’s largest 25 law firms

King & Wood Mallesons, formed last year through a merger of law firms based in China and Australia, is merging once again. King & Wood Mallesons is merging with London-based SJ Berwin to form a law firm with about $1 billion in revenues, 30 locations, and more than 2,700 lawyers,…

Jul 31, 2013 4:51 PM CDT

Lewis and Roca to merge with Rothgerber; combined firm will have about 250 lawyers

Phoenix-based law firm Lewis and Roca will merge with Denver-based firm Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons on Sept. 1. The merged firm will have about 250 lawyers in nine offices and will be called Lewis Roca Rothgerber, report the Am Law Daily and the Denver Business Journal. Lewis and Roca managing…

Jul 24, 2013 11:54 AM CDT

Law firms on track to top 2008 record of 70 mergers; tally 39 in first half of 2013

Updated: Law firms based in the U.S. are on track for a record number of mergers in 2013, if the second half of the year is anything like the first. So far, as of the end of June, there were 39 law firm mergers announced. Twenty-one took place during the…

Jul 8, 2013 10:05 PM CDT

Woods Oviatt adds 8 attorneys through merger with smaller legal shop

One of the larger law firms in Rochester, N.Y., region is dissolving as eight attorneys join one the area’s biggest law firms. Three of the lawyers from Fix, Spindelman, Brovitz & Goldman are joining Woods Oviatt Gilman as partners, the Rochester Business Journal reports. Paralegals and support staff are also…

Jul 2, 2013 7:50 PM CDT

Ballard Spahr merges with criminal defense firm in New York

Ballard Spahr is entering the New York market through a merger with Stillman & Friedman, a 14-lawyer white-collar criminal defense firm in Manhattan. The merged firm will be known in New York as Ballard Spahr Stillman & Friedman for the next few years, the Legal Intelligencer reports. The firm will…

Jul 1, 2013 12:25 PM CDT

Fox Rothschild to acquire 16-attorney Denver firm

Less than a year after Fox Rothschild entered the Denver market, the Philadelphia-based law firm has announced that it is acquiring a 16-attorney legal shop in the mile-high city. The 10 partners, five associates and one counsel from Lottner Rubin Fishman Saul are expected to join 550-attorney Fox Rothschild on…

Jun 25, 2013 7:27 PM CDT

Husch Blackwell to enter Texas market by acquiring Brown McCarroll

Husch Blackwell announced Wednesday that it will soon be merging with Brown McCarroll, acquiring its first Texas offices—in Austin, Dallas and Houston—and about 65 more attorneys in the process. The combined firm will have over 600 lawyers in 16 cities in the United States and London. The merger was approved…

Jun 19, 2013 6:42 PM CDT

European M&As could rise despite risks, unstable economy (video)

Prospects for M&A activity in Europe are slowly beginning to improve, according to what Guy Norman, acting global head of mergers and acquisitions at Clifford Chance, tells Bloomberg’s Sarah Kopit. Citing a recent Clifford Chance survey, Norman says that Europe is now seen as a favorable M&A destination for investors,…

Jun 13, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

How in-depth knowledge of Star Wars paid off for lawyers at Skadden

Due diligence for last year’s $4 billion acquisition by Walt Disney Co. of Lucasfilm required the purchaser to check that George Lucas did, in fact, own the rights to some 10,000 characters and elements from his six Star Wars movies. So Brian McCarthy, who heads the Los Angeles office of…

May 23, 2013 1:45 PM CDT

Company sues former law firm, says failure to detect issues before IPO cost millions

A Florida-based company that sells health products over the Internet has sued its former law firm, contending that it lost millions because Shefsky & Froehlich failed to detect and inform its leaders, prior to going forward with an initial public offering, of corporate governance and capital structure issues. In the…

Apr 16, 2013 5:35 PM CDT

Global M&A deals may increase despite poor 1st quarter, says Sullivan & Cromwell partner (Video)

Despite the number of global mergers and acquisitions being down year over year for the first quarter, Sullivan & Cromwell expects deal work to increase this year because the phone is ringing more often at its New York office, partner Frank Aquila tells Bloomberg Law’s Lee Pacchia. “A year ago,…

Apr 4, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

Ex-client sues Shearman, says firm didn’t warn of $76M pension shortfall before deal closed

A former client has sued Shearman & Sterling, contending that the law firm failed to warn him about $76 million in underfunded pension liability before a deal went through as part of a corporate reorganization plan concerning two of his companies. Newsprint magnate Peter Brant alleges that as a result…

Apr 3, 2013 9:37 PM CDT

Cooley recruits co-chair of Sheppard Mullin corporate group for growing LA office

A mergers and acquisitions specialist who co-chairs the corporate practice group of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton is joining Cooley’s growing Los Angeles area office, along with another corporate partner from the firm. Established less than a year ago, the office now has nearly 20 lawyers, including new hires Thomas…

Feb 19, 2013 4:35 PM CST

DOJ sues to block Anheuser Busch merger with Mexico’s Grupo Modelo

The Justice Department on Thursday sued to stop a planned merger of Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev with Mexico’s largest beer maker, Grupo Modelo. Justice officials argue the merger would threaten competition and drive up beer prices, the Washington Post reports. If the two beer giants merge, a deal valued at $20.1…

Feb 2, 2013 12:06 AM CST