It was announced yesterday that Faegre & Benson will combine with Baker & Daniels effective at the start of 2012.
When news of merger talks leaked back in August, I wondered whether large domestic mergers would continue given changes to the corporate legal market and the fundamental business model of large law firms.
These two firms apparently want to go upmarket where they can while the getting is still good:
“The size and added capabilities of the combined firm will give us the ability to devote more resources to larger projects, bring deeper and broader experience to complex matters and transactions, and provide greater expertise in certain niche areas…”
And yes, the press release uses the word “platform” (“We also believe this more visible platform will help attract and retain the highest caliber talent.”) which I first spotted back in 2005 when Shaw Pittman and Pillsbury Winthrop got together.
I have to give a tip of the Wired GC cap to these two firms for putting together a deal when many competitors are retrenching. Here’s the video of the two managing partners explaining the reasons to combine the two firms. Yes, it’s legal social media, and rather well done at that:
(I like the way Messrs. Froehle and Humphrey look at each other from time to time, as if to be sure they are really onside with doing this thing.)
One interesting item: when I Googled “Faegre & Benson” this morning to find news reports of the deal, I noticed this at the bottom of the first page of search results:
I trust that’s not the plan; Faegre Baker Daniels sounds like a growth story. But sometimes Google knows what we are thinking even before we do.