Balancing Big Firm Mergers and the Boutique Draw

by Dennis Crouch

I saw this morning that Womble Bond Dickinson and Lewis Roca are merging to create firm with 1,300+ lawyers. By my quick count, the new combo will have 150+ US patent attorneys under the WBD ،nd that the wider-known of the two (especially internationally).\xa0 Two other big mergers announced this week - Troutman Pepper and Locke Lord; Ballard Spahr and Lane Powell.\xa0 \xa0The "Troutman Pepper Locke" merger will result in 1,600+ lawyers, with about 200 lawyers in their IP group (of which about 100 will be "patent attorneys").\xa0 \xa0The Ballard Spahr merger is also large (750+ lawyers), but Lane Powell\'s IP practice is fairly small -- likely meaning that Ballard Spahr\'s patent group (largely based in Atlanta) may end up quite successful if they are able to cross-sell to Lane Powell\'s clients.