(Reuters) – Law firm Taft, Stettinius & Hollister said Monday that it plans to combine with Atlanta-based Morris, Manning & Martin, marking what Taft said was its ninth merger in less than two decades and continuing a string of U.S. legal industry tie-ups this year.
The firms said the merger, set to take effect on Dec. 31, will add 100 lawyers to Taft’s roster and allow the Cincinnati-founded law firm to open an office in Atlanta. Taft said the combined firm will have more than 1,200 lawyers in 25 offices and more than $1 billion in revenue.
Taft’s “overall strategy is really to become a national middle-market super firm,” said Robert Hicks, Taft’s firmwide chairman and managing partner. He said Taft is looking for merger partners to expand into other markets, including New York and Texas.
“Our model represents 80 to 90% of the U.S. economy,” Hicks said. “That’s the middle market. We don’t think anybody has nationally dominated that market.”
A spokesperson for Taft said the firms’ partners approved the merger unanimously last week.
In January, Morris Manning lost about 20% of its partnership to Reed Smith. In April, 12 of its intellectual property lawyers joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.
Simon Malko, Morris Manning’s managing partner, said the firm nonetheless had been poised to have a strong year and that joining forces with Taft was “not a merger of necessity.”
Hicks said Taft began merger talks with Morris Manning in February.
Taft at the start of the year completed a merger with Denver-founded firm Sherman & Howard, gaining 125 lawyers. In June, it merged with 18-lawyer, Florida-based litigation firm Mrachek Law.
McDermott, Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel earlier this month completed a planned merger to form McDermott Will & Schulte, with about 1,750 lawyers. In June, New York-based Kramer Levin combined with larger global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills. New York’s Shearman & Sterling last year merged with London-founded global firm Allen & Overy.