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As law firm merger mania takes hold, will clients pay more?
By Ronel Lehmann, chief executive, Lehmann Communications
The legal market is facing a period of consolidation like never before, with most of the major law firms now regularly engaging in discussions with competitors about the merits of combination. But the recent collapse of merger talks between two of America’s largest firms, Dewey Ballantine and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, shows that friendly conversations can be risky.
The engagement between the two firms fell apart for many reasons, but chief among them was the fact that Dewey Ballantine lost a number of top partners in the run-up to a final vote. The talks had been leaked to the press at an early stage, before many in the firm had been told, understandably resulting in antipathy towards the deal from day one.