DC Heats Up in January
This month Boston-based Bingham McCutchen will acquire Washington D.C. law firm Swidler Berlin, reports Legal Times.
This is big. Big firm, big reputation. Big clients, big bucks. Big systems.
Big headaches. 850-lawyer Bingham will more than triple its 55-lawyer D.C. office, adding three key practice groups and creating an instant Washington presence. With 11 offices on both coasts, Bingham has soared up the AmLaw rankings from No. 81 in 1999 to No. 26 in 2005, with no less than five successful mergers. But Swidler was one of D.C.'s last best midsize firms. Says Bingham Chairman Jay Zimmerman, "there are fewer and fewer [merger] opportunities available in D.C.," echoing a lament heard recently around the Big Apple.
Litigation support, anyone? The integration of complex litigations and systems often proves to be a merged firm's thorniest challange, although Zimmerman says, "Every time we get a little better at it."
They have to. Swidler itself is an object case. Before its 1998 merger with New York's 60-lawyer Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman, Swidler was known as an aggressive and highly profitable firm. But the New York lawyers' corporate practice never meshed with Swidler's focus and led to a steady bleeding of key partners, a shopping excursion, and ultimately the acquisition by Bingham.
Now Bingham will face many of the same challenges that made Swidler vulnerable. Technology has exploded exponentially since 1999, when Bingham made 81 on the AmLaw 100, and many a firm has been surprised by arcane cyber-mysteries like E-discovery.
Litigation support and staffing has never been a better investment. Because integration of systems isn't just about hardware.
This is big. Big firm, big reputation. Big clients, big bucks. Big systems.
Big headaches. 850-lawyer Bingham will more than triple its 55-lawyer D.C. office, adding three key practice groups and creating an instant Washington presence. With 11 offices on both coasts, Bingham has soared up the AmLaw rankings from No. 81 in 1999 to No. 26 in 2005, with no less than five successful mergers. But Swidler was one of D.C.'s last best midsize firms. Says Bingham Chairman Jay Zimmerman, "there are fewer and fewer [merger] opportunities available in D.C.," echoing a lament heard recently around the Big Apple.
Litigation support, anyone? The integration of complex litigations and systems often proves to be a merged firm's thorniest challange, although Zimmerman says, "Every time we get a little better at it."
They have to. Swidler itself is an object case. Before its 1998 merger with New York's 60-lawyer Shereff, Friedman, Hoffman & Goodman, Swidler was known as an aggressive and highly profitable firm. But the New York lawyers' corporate practice never meshed with Swidler's focus and led to a steady bleeding of key partners, a shopping excursion, and ultimately the acquisition by Bingham.
Now Bingham will face many of the same challenges that made Swidler vulnerable. Technology has exploded exponentially since 1999, when Bingham made 81 on the AmLaw 100, and many a firm has been surprised by arcane cyber-mysteries like E-discovery.
Litigation support and staffing has never been a better investment. Because integration of systems isn't just about hardware.
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