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Another BigLaw firm announces merger—third in week’s time

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 10, 2024, 3:00 pm CDT

Womble Bond Dickinson and Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie announced Tuesday that they will merge Jan. 1, 2025, to create “a powerhouse firm” of more than 1,300 lawyers.

The combined law firm will have 29 offices in 15 states and Washington, D.C., and will have the “strategic advantage” of Womble Bond Dickinson’s eight offices in the United Kingdom, according to a Sept. 10 press release.

Law.com, Reuters, Bloomberg Law and Law360 have coverage.

The two firms have a combined revenue of more than $742 million, which would give the merged firm a ranking of No. 70 on the American Lawyer’s list of top-grossing firms.

Womble Bond Dickinson has about 640 lawyers in the United States and 450 in the United Kingdom, a spokesperson told Law.com. Lewis Roca has about 220 lawyers.

The combination “will deepen Womble’s presence” in the Southwest and the Mountain West while extending Lewis Roca’s reach to regions that include the mid-Atlantic and the Southeast, according to the press release.

The combined firm will operate as Womble Bond Dickinson and will be led by Merrick Benn, who was slated to become the U.S. chair and CEO of the larger firm in January.

“Both of our firms recognize there’s a need to build scale, to have a deeper bench, in order to provide the type of legal services that our clients need, both in terms of skill set and also geographical reach,” Benn told Bloomberg Law in an interview.

The planned combination is the third BigLaw merger announced in less than a week. Partners at Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders and Locke Lord approved a merger Sept. 5. On Sept. 9, Ballard Spahr and Lane Powell said they will merge.

Jordan Abshire, founder of Abshire Legal Search, a legal consulting company, told Bloomberg Law that firms are feeling pressure to reach clients in more geographical locations.

“Clients have been consolidating their outside counsel relationships largely in an effort to get volume discounts by giving more work to a smaller number of firms,” Abshire said.