A second-quarter report by legal consultancy Altman Weil has found that the 39 law firm mergers announced in the U.S. so far this year match the pace of 2013, which yielded a record number of law firm tie-ups.
Most of the combinations this year involved East Coast and Midwest firms looking to western markets—such as California and Colorado—for future growth. Firms generally eschewed bigger deals in favor of focusing on smaller acquisitions, says Altman principal Ward Bower, honored last year by sibling publication The National Law Journal as a trailblazer in the legal services industry.
