Orrick, Buckley Show Big Law Mergers Budding After Pandemic Drop

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe’s planned combination with Buckley shows that Big Law firms are again turning to mergers as a way to further their growth ambitions after a pandemic-induced stall in the activity.

Actions are moving beyond regional operations as the nation’s top law firms look at combining with peers for a competitive advantage, said Lisa Smith, a law firm consultant at Fairfax Associates, who were involved in the Orrick merger talks.

The Orrick merger is “part of a bigger trend, and it’s one that we’ve been seeing glimmers of for some time,” Smith said in an interview. “We are ...