Baker & Daniels, one of the largest law firms in Indianapolis, has agreed to merge with a firm from Minneapolis. The merger is with Faegre & Benson LLP, based in Minneapolis. The two firms first began merger discussions back in August in hopes that a deal would be reached no later than the month of October. Both firms hit their goal for striking a deal, with the merger taking effect on January 1, 2012. The new name of the new firm will be Faegre Baker Daniels and B&D Consulting will change its name to FaegreBD Consulting.
Baker & Daniels has 221 lawyers working in Indianapolis, which makes it the second largest firm in the city, behind only Barnes & Thornburg LLP, which employs 228 lawyers. Overall, Baker & Daniels employs 308 lawyers in seven locations across the globe including Chicago, Beijing, and Washington D.C. to name a few. Faegre & Benson employs 500 lawyers and its merger with Baker & Daniels is the largest law firm merger in the history of Indianapolis. When the merger becomes official beginning on January 1, 2012, the new firm will be the 68th largest firm in the United States with 770 lawyers employed by the firm.
“We’re excited about our deeper bench strength we’ll be able to offer across both firms,” said Tom Froehle, Baker & Daniels’ managing partner.
The new firm will feature revenue in excess of $400 million.
“This makes us a truly national firm with strong international capabilities,” said Andrew Humphrey, Faegre’s managing partner. Humphrey will retain that title with the new firm.
Partners from both firms have said that there are no scheduled layoffs coming when the two firms merge together on January 1, 2012 and that there will not be an office acting as the firm’s headquarters in one specific location. The client list of Faegre currently includes Target, Wells Fargo, Seagate Technology, Cargill and Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The client list for Baker & Daniels, founded in 1863, includes pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, real estate developer Simon Property Group, and Zimmer Holdings (medical equipment manufacturer).
“It’ll give us greater bench strength,” said Baker’s chief executive partner, Tom Froehle, who will assume the title of chief operating partner and focus on more day-to-day operations.
“For firms with clients with multiple locations, it makes a lot of sense to be able to represent them on the ground there,” said Cindy Eidness, division director of the Minneapolis office of Beacon Hill Staffing Group, a legal staffing and search firm. “Merging with a law firm in another location is obviously a great way to increase client service.”
According to the leaders of both law firms, the firms have been in negotiations for a merger for roughly two years, which means both firms know each other well enough to be successful working as one firm.
“This will have a huge, immediate impact on the firms but we wanted to position ourselves for the long term,” Humphrey said. “Our clients are looking more and more for depth and breadth of capability. We have to grow with our clients.”