Morgan, Lewis & Bockius chair Jami Wintz McKeon says she wasn’t looking for a large domestic combination when Bingham McCutchen approached her in June. “We did not have, and never had, a goal of being big for the sake of being big,” she says. Still, “you always have to be looking for opportunities.”

What Bingham offered, she found, was heft in New York, Washington, D.C., Boston and California; new premium practices; and synergies with Morgan Lewis strengths in energy and other areas.