Philly IP Firm to Merge with BakerHostetler

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There’s merger fever yet again, which like the season of love has all sorts of amorous lawyers seeking to combine talent and maybe lose their name in the process. Woodcock Washburn L.L.P., for instance, held out a long time, ever since they were founded in 1946, to remain a sort of spinster, or too-good-for-you stand-alone intellectual property firm. That is, until they were wooed by BakerHostetler, a Cleveland based firm 800 strong, whose merger with the smaller firm would double their IP practice to 140 lawyers.

“The opportunity brought about by the potential combination of the resources of the Woodcock Washburn and BakerHostetler was too good to pass up,” said Joseph Lucci, part of the Woodcock Washburn policy committee, who would be slated to be the managing partner of the BakerHostetler Philadelphia Office, as the Philly News reported. “It’s pretty compelling on both sides.”

  

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The union would come without cuts, a spokesman for Woodcock reported; the firm would stay in place, and no staff would be given the opportunity to seek new employment.

Woodcock would nevertheless lose their name, as of January 1, and become known simply as BakerHostetler. That depends on how the two firms vote; assuming they both vote for the merger, it will happen, and a favorable vote seems likely, as most of those involved think everybody has a lot to gain from the marriage.