Loading...
According to reports made by the St. Louis Business Journal in Los Angeles. Bryan Cave and Denver-based Holme Roberts & Owen are said to be engaged in discussions about a potential tie-up.
Representatives from both of the firms refused to comment on the possible merger talks when contacted Monday by the Am Law Daily. But earlier this month, Holme Roberts’ managing partner Randall Miller acknowledged hat his firm was having conversations with potential suitors. The Am Law Daily also previously reported on Miller’s effort to restructure Holme Roberts following a series of high-profile partner defections and staff layouts.
Miller, who took over the leadership of Holme Roberts in the month of May, told the Daily Journal that his 175-lawyer firm was eager to bolster its national profile.
”Having regional rates while having a larger and more robust practice is always a goal of ours.” Miller told the papers. ”We have never had a particular time frame in mind [to broker a merger or acquisition]. But the sooner we do, the happier we’ll be.”
Also, when he was asked about the report on Monday, Miller had said that, ”we don’t comment on speculation.”
Holme Roberts received a boost when the firm won a $22.6 million breach-of-contract verdict earlier this month for Union Pacific Railroad in state court in California, the Daily Journal reports. According to the most recent Am Law 200 financial data, Holme Robets had gross revenues of $104 million and profits per partner of $380,000. Meanwhile, Bryan Cave saw its gross revenue fell almost 3 percent in 2010 to $539.5 million, while the profits rose 14.6 percent to $705,000.
Get JD Journal in Your Mail
Subscribe to our FREE daily news alerts and get the latest updates on the most happening events in the legal, business, and celebrity world. You also get your daily dose of humor and entertainment!!
Bryan Cave, who is a 900-lawyer firm with roots in St. Louis, merged with New York’s Robinson Silverman Pearce Aronsohn & Berman in 2002 and Atlanta-based Powell Goldstein in 2008. According to the annual head count data compiled by sibling publication The National Law Journal, the combined firm has trimmed almost 100 lawyers from its ranks in the past year.
The ABA Journal item quoted an article in The Daily Journal, which is a California-based legal publication, which cited unidentified ”sources working closely with both of the firms.” Unfortunately, the Daily Journal article didn’t say anything about when the deal was expected to close.
The firm went through reconstructing earlier this year that included administrative staff cuts of about 10-15 percent of its full-time equivalent staffing. HRO also lost 29 of its attorneys in its Salt Lake City office to Denver-based Holland & Hart in May.
Whether this merger talks are true or not, though it’s probably true because of all the talk that has been going around, things could only make the company better. This merger would definitely benefit everyone that is involved.
