Effective January 1, 2014, Silver, Freedman & Taff and Elias, Matz, Tiernan & Herrick, two small Washington law firms that specialize in representing financial institutions intend to merge. The Washington Post reports that the joining of the two firms will have represented issuers and underwriters in more than 1,000 securities offerings raising more than $40 billion, and buyers and sellers in 800 mergers and acquisitions worth $50 billion.
Bob Freedman, who is senior partner at Silver, Freedman & Taff, said in a statement, “With this combination, we have assembled under one roof the leading attorneys in our industry.” Silver, Freedman & Taff was founded in 1971. It mostly represents commercial banks, savings institutions, trust companies and credit unions with assets between $25 billion and $50 billion.
Elias, Matz, Tiernan & Herrick, also founded in 1971, represents financial institutions and private equity funds in initial public offerings, debt financing and mutual to stock conversions. “This combination expands our capacity and expertise further.” said Bob Freedman of Silver, Freedman & Taff.
According to the Washington Post, law firm mergers have grown this year as the legal industry continues to grasp for ways to expand despite flat demand for legal services. There were 58 law firm mergers announced in the first nine months of 2013. A quarterly report by legal consultancy Altman Weil states that the U.S. legal industry was on pace to see more mergers take place in 2013 than each of the past two years.