Probably not the most fun read if you work at a behmoth but this short piece illustrates the recent changes in the market and we’d suggest that with the advent of AI, more boutiques and the rise of China it’s just a precursor of what’s going to happen to the majority of law firms that previously sat in ivory towers.
Decaying Law Firm Brands
With so many law firm flame-outs and mergers transpiring these days, it’s difficult for some legal observers to keep track of firm names. Occasionally we’ll stumble on a source who still calls a firm by their old name — calling Hogan Lovells, for instance, Hogan & Hartson, the firm it used to be before its 2010 merger.
The confusion (and our natural curiosity behind the ancestry tree of law firm brands) prompted us to take a look back at the archives of financial rankings in The American Lawyer to see how the legal landscape has shifted over the past… oh, let’s say, 10 years… and see which Big Law brands are no longer with us.
The reason for firm name changes generally can be categorized into three buckets: the firm either 1) fails, wiping their name off the charts entirely, 2) merges with (or acquires) another firm, or 3) simply decides to rebrand themselves, like when Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker became just, Paul Hastings. As far as our purposes go, we decided not to note firms from category No. 3 because, after all, their brand is still intact, albeit in a shorter form version.
One last thing we should mention is that we worked off names from the 2006 AmLaw 100 revenue chart and compared it with the AmLaw 100 list from 2016. So any firms that may have made an entry into the AmLaw 100 between 2007 and 2015 wasn’t taken into account.
Now, without wasting any more time, let’s get to the run-down.
Failed Firms
For starters, seven of the largest 100 U.S. law firms are no longer on the face of the planet. That’s right. Taken together, we’re talking an accumulative $2.8 billion in revenue, if you add all their figures together for 2006. That proportion of failed firm business is larger than the biggest living law firm (by revenue) in the world today: Latham & Watkins, which grossed $2.6 billion in 2015, is just shy of what the combined entity of all the failed law firms would have brought in had they merged 10 years ago. [That’s not adjusted for inflation or the time-value of money.]
The firms in memorium are as follows:
Thelen, Reid & Priest (1924 – 2008)
Howrey (1956 – 2011)
Dewey Ballantine, LeBoeuf, Lamb (1909 – 2012)
LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae (1929 – 2012)
Heller Ehrman (1890 – 2008)
Bingham McCutchen (1891 – 2014)
Dickstein Shapiro (1953 – 2016)
But outside of dead firms, what about firms that carry a different name today? A lot has changed over a decade. We counted seven firms that rebranded themselves through a merger, acquisition, or series of combinations. Of course, at least a couple of these could have very well ended up in the above “failed firm” category but for a last-minute rescue acquisition.
Here’s a list of the seven that carry different names today, as well as some financial information about each that illustrate their growth (or decline).
Mergers and Acquisitions
7
Hogan & Hartson (2006) Revenue: $700 million. AmLaw No. 21. 953 lawyers
In 2010, Hogan & Hartson merged with Lovells.
Hogan Lovells (2016) Revenue: $1.8 billion. AmLaw No. 9. 2,516 lawyers
6
Faegre & Benson (2006) Revenue: $229.5 million. AmLaw No. 92. 449 lawyers
In 2012, Faegre & Benson merged with Baker & Daniels.
Faegre Baker Daniels (2016) Revenue: $466 million. AmLaw No. 68. 670 lawyers
5
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge (2006) Revenue: $278.5 million. AmLaw No. 74. 485 lawyers
In 2011, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge merged with Wildman Harrold Allen & Dixon to form Edwards Wildman. In 2015, Edwards Wildman merged with Locke Lord.
Locke Lord (2016) Revenue: $597 million. AmLaw No. 57. 847 lawyers
4
Squire Sanders & Dempsey (2006) Revenue: $410 million. AmLaw No. 55. 680 lawyers
In 2014, Squire Sanders acquired Patton Boggs.
Squire Patton Boggs (2016) Revenue: $929 million. AmLaw No. 30. 1,426 lawyers
3
DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary (2006) Revenue: $890.5 million. AmLaw No. 10. 1,303 lawyers
Various office openings, lateral hires, combinations and alliances.
DLA Piper (2016) Revenue: $2.54 billion. AmLaw No. 2. 3,756 lawyers
2
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (2006) Revenue: $469 million. AmLaw No. 45. 837 lawyers
In 2007, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham merged with Preston Gates & Ellis.
K&L Gates (2016) Revenue: $1 billion. AmLaw No. 24. 1,852 lawyers
1
Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (2006) Revenue: $448 million. AmLaw No. 48. 662 lawyers
In 2010, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthanl merged with Denton Wilde Sapte to form SNR Denton. In 2013, a three-way merger between SNR Denton, Salans and Frasner Milner Casgrain formed Dentons.
Dentons (2016) Not Available
So there you have it. The big law firm brand names that have most changed since 2006.
If you’re an old timer and find yourself stumbling on the name of a firm every now and then, feel free to brush up on the latest AmLaw 100 that just came out in April. Otherwise, we welcome you to come back anytime and take a trip down memory lane.
