Motivated in part by the recent tie-ups that involved regional rivals, Louisville-based Greenebaum Doll & McDonald and Indianapolis-based Bingham McHale have announced their plans to join forces to create a 250-lawyer firm called Bingham Greenebaum Doll as of January 2.
The two firms announced what they described in a recent press release to be a ”merger of equals” on Wednesday, in the afternoon. The union has been approved by the partnerships of both of the firms, which began seriously discussing a potential tie-up sometime in late August.
”I’d first met [Bingham McHale managing partner W. Tobin ”Toby” McClamroch] a few years ago, and when we got to taking we both saw a mutual interest in doing this,” says the Greenebaum Doll chairman Phillip Scott. ”This will allow us both to expand out footprint and our depth in various practice areas.”
Scott acknowledges that the recent moves by other regional firms to consolidate helped increased the interest on the part of both his firm and the Bingham McHale in a potential merger. In October, The American Lawyer reported on the increasingly crowded legal market over in Indiana, which has led of of the local firms to look outside the Midwest for expansion opportunities.
Almost three years ago, the Kentucky firm Frost Brown Todd merged with Indianapolis-based Locke Reynolds, creating a firm with around 400 lawyers today. Back in August, the Indianapolis-based Baker & Daniels confirmed that it was in merger talks with the Minneapolis-based Faegre & Benson. The two Am Law 200 firms will officially combine as Faegre Baker Daniels on January 1 of the New Year.
It was also announced back in August that, a merger between Indianapolis-based Am Law 200 firm Ice Miller and Columbus-based Schottenstein Zox & Dunn that will go live in January. Greenebaum Doll held around several months of merger talks with Ice Miller two years ago before the firms went their different ways, according to the previous reports. Greenebaum Doll also held more talks with Bingham McHale during the same time.
Scott says that the potential mergers grew more intriguing over time between his 117-lawyer firm and 130-lawyer Bingham McHale. The latter’s bond practice intrigued Greenebaum Doll, which, in turn, boasts a tax and finance practice that Bingham McHale lacks in their company. The new combined firm will have a total of eight offices; four in Indiana, three in the state of Kentucky, and one in Cincinnati.
Bingham McHale, which has already grown out of a merger between two rival Indiana firms a decade ago, counts Duke Energy, Pfizer, Simon Property Group, WellPoint, and the Gatorade Trust among all of its largest clients. Greenebaum Doll, which has over the time had to cope with a series of partner defections in recent years, represents companies like Humana and the group of the franchisees for the new fast food chains KFC.