UPDATE: 3/6/13, 7:10 p.m. EDT. Information as to the status of Ongaro Burtt & Louderback has been added to the fourth and fifth paragraphs of this story.
March Madness is still two weeks away, but merger madness, it seems, waits for no bracketology.
McKenna Long & Aldridge is among the latest Am Law 200 firms to expand regionally by announcing office openings in Miami and Northern Virginia after absorbing an aviation-focused boutique, while Adams and Reese and Thompson & Knight have expanded into Jacksonville and San Francisco, respectively, by picking up smaller firms in those cities.
Thompson & Knight, which last October opened in Los Angeles by relocating litigation partner Shelly Youree from Dallas and hiring litigation counsel Bruce Zabarauskas from Crowell & Moring, branched out into the Bay Area on March 1 by bringing on seven lawyers from San Francisco–based litigation boutique The Ongaro Firm.
Joining Thompson & Knight are litigation partner David Ongaro, counsel Nevin Brownfield and Susan Haines, and attorneys Peter Hoefs, Cara Sherman, Glen Turner, and Amelia Winchester. Sherman will be based in Thompson & Knight’s Los Angeles office. All previously practiced either with Ongaro at his former firm Ongaro Burtt & Louderback, which formally dissolved on December 31 of last year, or his successor firm.
The firm's two other name partners—David Burtt and Charles Louderback—have formed Oakland-based Mobility Legal P.C. and the San Francisco-based Louderback Law Group, respectively. (Ongaro did not respond to a request for comment on his decision to join Thompson & Knight.)
Thompson & Knight saw gross revenue rise 3.5 percent to $207 million in 2012, while profits per partner increased another 6.5 percent during that same period to $985,000, according to sibling publication Texas Lawyer. The firm, which elected Emily Parker as its new managing partner last year, called off merger talks with Reed Smith in 2011.
Adams and Reese, meanwhile, has expanded its presence in Florida by opening an office in Jacksonville following its merger with 12-lawyer local business litigation shop Volpe, Bajalia, Wickes, Rogerson & Wachs, according to sibling publication the Daily Business Review. Timothy Volpe, a name partner at the firm, will serve as partner-in-charge of Adams and Reese’s new office in Jacksonville, the largest contiguous city by area in the continental United States.
The merger of Volpe’s Jacksonville firm, which was founded in 1998, into Adams and Reese is effective as of March 1. Besides Volpe, other partners joining the New Orleans–based Am Law 200 firm are Michael Lee, Matthew McLauchlin, John Rogerson III, and Alan Wachs, along with special counsel Michael Duncan, Christopher Harris, and Leslie Wickes.
“The merger with Adams and Reese gives us the opportunity to even better serve our clients, with access to a broader base of attorneys, practicing in almost every area of law,” Volpe said in a statement announcing the merger. “[W]e look forward to creating new relationships with Adams and Reese clients, and with new clients in our merged firm who will be attracted to our large regional footprint, extensive list of practice areas, and experience in virtually every industry in the region.”
Last fall, Birmingham-based Balch & Bingham opened an office in Jacksonville after acquiring six-lawyer banking boutique Stoneburner Berry Glocker Purcell & Greenhut, right around the same time that regional rival Burr & Forman entered Tampa by merging with 23-lawyer local firm Williams Schifino Mangione & Steady.
