If you're a legal professional, the name(s) along your firm's masthead may soon be changing. So says a recent report by consulting group Fairfax Associates (whose name looks to be staying the same for now). 

Law firm "merger activity in the first quarter of 2024 increased over the same quarter in 2023, with activity focused on small and midsize [firm] mergers," the report explains. Q1 of this year has seen 20 mergers, while Q1 of last year saw 16. That's a 25% increase.

"Indeed, with the benefits of scale more apparent, more firms than ever before are willing to consider marriage proposals. And firms with between 400 and 800 lawyers are especially hungry to acquire smaller firms right now, which themselves may be looking at succession planning and trying to find ways to provide a boost for the future," Lisa Smith, a principal at Fairfax, told American Lawyer.

Earlier this year, fellow Fairfax principal Kristen Stark told Above The Law: "The interest in growth via merger continues to remain very, very high [for 2024]. I would even say it’s at an all-time high, in the 20-plus years I’ve been working with law firms." The A&O Shearman deal slated to close in May, and a forthcoming Dentons merger were cited.

Job Cutting 

These mergers come on the heels of a series of hiring freezes and layoffs that took hold of the legal field during the pandemic. Kirkland & Ellis, Gunderson Dettmer, "Cooley, Goodwin Procter, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and Shearman & Sterling have laid off lawyers and staff [between late 2022 and early 2023], citing a slowdown in work. Firms including Davis Wright Tremaine and Perkins Coie have also let go of business professionals," Reuters reported last year. "Hiring decreased nearly 12% overall in 2022," Reuters continued, adding that Gunderson Dettmer also deferred incoming associates' start dates in 2023.

THE VERDICT:

Big Law has not been immune to the rollercoaster ride the economy has been on over the last 4 years. From a hiring boom, to a bust, to a merger frenzy. The end result is that associates and other legal professionals may be feeling insecurity at these firms, and may decide instead to strike out on their own via platforms like Lawtrades.