The first three months of 2018 seem to be ushering in the year of the global mega-firm.
Three of the 30 combinations announced so far this year have resulted in law firms of over 1,000 lawyers.
Law firms have been consolidating at a brisk pace for much of the last decade, and 2017 was a record year with 102 mergers or acquisitions, according to Altman Weil MergerLine. Many such combinations have involved larger firms acquiring legal boutiques with dozens—not hundreds— of lawyers.
But the trend appears to be shifting. The biggest firms have been swallowing other large firms as they ...