GrayRobinson announced this week that it is merging with the Miami-based criminal and white-collar defense firm Hirschhorn & Bieber this week, gaining shareholders JOEL HIRSCHHORN, BRIAN BIEBER and an associate in the process.

Bieber says the boutique was approached by several larger firms over the past several years but decided to merge with GrayRobinson because “the fit was instantaneous. In the way they approach the practice of law, everyone acts as a team but retains their individual identity, which is important in criminal defense.”

Bieber adds that merging with the Am 200 firm should help him and his colleagues expand their practice throughout Florida and the rest of the United States. GrayRobinson has 11 offices in Florida, and Bieber says he had a chance to meet with one of the firm’s clients (whom he declined to identify) in its Naples outpost before the merger was even announced.

Sibling publication The Daily Business Review has more on the merger.

Elsewhere in Florida, Am Law 200 firm Shutts & Bowen announced Thursday that it is merging with Sarasota-based Livingston, Patterson, Strickland & Siegel. The merger gives Shutts & Bowen two new partners and one associate, as well as an office in Sarasota. Joining as partners are JOHN PATTERSON, a business, real estate and banking lawyer; and MICHAEL SIEGEL, who concentrates on business, real estate, health care and employment law. Both also practice commercial litigation.

Shutts & Bowen chairman Bowman Brown says the firm has known the Livingston Patterson lawyers for five years through one of its Tampa partners. Brown adds that a move into the Sarasota market makes sense given the city’s population growth and the resulting uptick in demand for legal services. “There are a lot more sophisticated real estate transactions and construction litigation there,” Brown says.

Livingston Patterson’s client roster includes the Sarasota Jungle Gardens tourist attraction, the not-for-profit Girls Incorporated of Sarasota County, and senior housing service Sarasota Health Care Center, according to the firm’s website.