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Six Keys to a Successful Law Firm Merger

By J. Mark Santiago
September 01, 2016

Over the past two years, I have been involved in three merger situations and I am currently working on two more. I have worked closely with the managing partners and committees of these firms and have come away with the following factors that, I believe, determine the success or failure of law firm merger discussions.

Some of the factors overlap along the edges, but I have presented them as separate entities for clarity. They are:

  1. Strategy. Have a strategy and be true to it.
  2. Expectations. Know what you want.
  3. Concessions. Know what you will give.
  4. Outcome. Begin with the end in mind; recognize your bargaining position.
  5. Honesty. Numbers are numbers.
  6. Timeliness. You don't have all year.

In my 30 years of consulting to the legal profession, law firm mergers have become commonplace, not the “Black Swan” of the 1980s or even the one-a-week of the mid-2000s. There were 91 mergers in 2015, and the pace in 2016 appears to be ahead of that record year. Based upon my experience, if 91 mergers were completed, 200-300 were discussed in some manner or another. With that in mind, let's look at the success factors in more detail.

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