Consolation is a clear and ongoing trend in the US legal market, and Altman Weil has been tracking law firm merger activity since 2006. After a post-recession dip in the number of law firm combinations, 2016 was the fourth consecutive year with more than 80 mergers and acquisitions. Here are some of the more interesting highlights in this report:
- The largest merger on record occurred in 2015 as Dentons (2,500 lawyers) combined forces with China’s Dacheng (3,600 lawyers).
- Seventy-five percent (75%) of law firm combinations involve large firms acquiring much smaller firms, often in the 2-20 lawyer range.
- Succession is among the primary reasons smaller firms seek to become acquired by larger firms.
- The most combinations have occurred in the Southeastern US, with 195 mergers and acquisitions tracked in the last ten years.
- States with the most activity are California (78), New York (57), Florida (51) and Texas (49).
In addition to the report itself, there are four good articles, including one entitled “Is this Merger a Good Idea?”