Mid-Market Mergers Abound: Dykema Ties Up With Texas Firm

Above: Downtown Dallas, Texas at night.

Photo Illustration by skys the limit2 (Flickr/Creative Commons)

It seems as though there is a mid-market merger fever.

The 330-lawyer Dykema law firm, which has grown its business by expanding in markets outside of its struggling home city of Detroit, is set to combine with Cox Smith of Texas as a result of talks that started last year.

The 75-year-old Cox Smith brings about $55 million in revenue to Dykema, along with 118 lawyers and clients, such as AT&T and Valero Energy Corporation, according to Dykema.

Peter Kellett, Chairman and CEO of Dykema told Big Law Business: “Good combinations take upfront investments of human capital and time. There is probably some drag on year one because of that, but we really think this is positioning us for the long-run.”

Kellett added that the merger is not about making “a killing in a quick way.”

The combined firm, set to take effect May 1, would form the No. 127 largest law firm in the United States by revenue with about $235 million, going off last year’s American Lawyer figures. This would place Dykema around Wiley Rein and Kasowitz Benson in terms of revenue, based on the 2013 financial figures.

Together, the firms will have more than 450 lawyers in 15 offices and offer services in middle market M&A transactions, energy, infrastructure, automotive, financial services litigation, government policy, health care and data privacy and cybersecurity.

Kellett said that the Texas market was attractive to Dykema because of its growing economy.

“We had grown to have 25 lawyers in Dallas,” prior to the transaction, said Kellett. “That’s a good number, but not mission critical.”

The deal with Cox Smith will double the firm’s Dallas office and San Antonio will become one of Dykema’s largest office, the firm said in a statement.

Cox Smith Managing Director Deborah Williamson will serve on the Dykema executive board, and its Chairman Jamie Smith will serve as Dykema’s vice chair of Texas, the firm said.

Williamson said in a statement that she believed the combination would better service clients by “tapping into Dykema’s broad range of practices and national reach.”

The news comes as Cozen O’Connor, another AmLaw 200 law firm, was reported to be in merger talks with a law firm in Chicago, Meckler Bulger Tilson .

Name partner Bruce Meckler told us in an email that “we typically receive inquiries from large national firms seeking to establish a significant presence in Chicago” and that the firm had just come off a strong year.