On Monday, three law firms made announcements regarding acquisitions. Carlton Fields, a firm from Florida, announced that it was acquiring Rosner & Napierala, a firm based in New York. The acquisition adds six attorneys, two of which are partners, and gives the firm an office in Manhattan.
A law firm that operates in the Southeast, Adams and Reese, said it is going to acquire Igler & Dougherty from Tallahassee, Florida. The firm will add seven attorneys and two partners with the acquisition of the firm.
The third announcement from Monday came from the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff from Fort Lauderdale. The firm announced that it is going to acquire Litman Law. Litman Law has six lawyers and operates in Manassas, Virginia. The announcement of this deal comes just a week after Becker & Poliakoff said it was acquiring Cornett, Googe & Associates from Stuart, Florida.
In the previous quarter there were 14 law firm mergers, which was the same number of mergers in the third quarter of 2011. Almost all of the firms involved in those mergers involved firms with less than 25 attorneys.
“Small deals are easier to swallow, easier to integrate,” said Gary Rosen, the managing shareholder for Becker & Poliakoff’s. “Negotiations tend to be less complicated, and usually they can be accomplished in a short period of time.”
In the first nine months of 2012, 39 mergers for law firms have been announced. For the same time frame in 2011 there were four more mergers. Of the mergers announced in 2012, 35 of them involved law firms with less than 25 lawyers.