03.19 Legal Briefs - LSAG Newsletter

Market Level Comparison: 2018 Merger and acquisition activity was dominated by firms headquartered in large gateway cities and other northeastern markets. The only outliers in the top eight for 2018 were Milwaukee and Birmingham, each of which had firms involved in four acquisitions. Not surprisingly, the eight deals in those two markets were smaller than usual. Only one firm being acquired had over 100 lawyers, and the average attorney count across the eight was 45 (the median was only 5). At first glance it is more surprising that the 13 New York acquisitions, which were conducted by only four firms, involved even smaller acquisitions (average of 25 attorneys). However, 10 of the 13 acquired firms are headquartered outside of the U.S., with three in Africa, two in Asia and two in South America. Law firms will continue to look for opportunities to effectively expand their geographic footprint and broaden their specialty expertise. Global organizations will continue to create demand for more globalized law firms that can provide services on each and every continent, so the trend of cross-border mergers is not likely to go away anytime soon.

MERGERS BY ACQUIRING FIRM LOCATION

Source: Altman Weil; Cushman & Wakefield Research.

MERGERS BY ACQUIRED FIRM LOCATION

Source: Altman Weil; Cushman & Wakefield Research.

Law firms will continue to look for opportunities to effectively expand their geographic footprint and broaden their specialty expertise.

6 | Legal Sector Advisory Group | ADVISING FOR EXCELLENCE