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The Fallacy of Merger Math

By Timothy B. Corcoran
March 28, 2013

If we were to analyze law firm mergers by plotting client satisfaction on one axis and partner satisfaction on the other, the resulting scatter diagram would reflect a surprising few combinations that were deemed satisfactory after the fact to all parties. This isn't limited to law firm combinations; indeed, many corporate mergers go awry for similar reasons such as poor execution, loss of key talent, loss of key clients, boardroom battles, mismatched cultures and failure to achieve financial targets. So why do law firm leaders continue to pursue mergers at such a furious pace? It's a basic law of finance ' when you have eliminated all other drivers to achieve growth but one, leaders will pursue the remaining driver with vigor, and call it a strategy. Let's break this down a little further.

Fundamentals of Law Firm Finance

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