The law firm of Squire Patton Boggs announced in February that it had reached a deal to acquire the San Francisco-based law firm of Carroll, Burdick & McDonough. The acquisition will increase Squire Patton Boggs’ headcount of roughly 1,500 lawyers by approximately fifty more and could be complete as early as the end of this month.
Despite its relatively small size, Carroll Burdick boasts an impressive international practice, with offices currently operating in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Boblingen, Germany, in addition to its domestic offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Indeed, Carroll Burdick’s chairman, Matthew Kemner, noted, “[Carroll Burdick is] the only firm of [its] size in the U.S. with a majority of its billings outside the U.S.” The firm, which was founded in 1948 by a trio of San Francisco lawyers, has a wide range of specialties despite its size; those specialties include products risk management and complex litigation.
The deal, which is being structured as a merger, will allow all of the current Carroll Burdick lawyers to continue on with Squire Patton Boggs. In the cities in which the two firms have overlapping offices—Berlin, Frankfurt, Los Angeles and San Francisco—the Carroll Burdick lawyers will move into the Squire Patton Boggs’s offices, increasing the firm’s size and visibility in these markets. The West Coast acquisitions will increase the California headcount to approximately 120 lawyers. Also, according to a firm announcement, the German acquisitions will signal an increased commitment to that market as well. The post-merger firm is expected to have forty-five offices across twenty-one countries.
This merger further expands on a nationwide trend of law firm mergers as firms increasingly struggle to find new clients and revenue sources. Sixteen mergers have already taken place this year and mass defections from other firms have resulted in major downsizings and disappearances—even among former regional legal powerhouses.
Squire Patton Boggs is no stranger to law firm mergers, having been formed in 2014 when Cleveland-based Squire Sanders merged with the Washington, D.C. firm of Patton Boggs. The firm is well known for its lobbying practice, the third largest of its kind, which earned nearly $25 million last year alone. Lobbying revenues have declined in recent years, however, and this merger could provide revenue diversity for the firm with the addition of Caroll Burdick clients such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz.
Law Firm Squire Patton Boggs to Merge with Carroll Burdick (PDF)