Regional Firms Seek Mergers to ‘Stay Relevant’ as Big Law Swarms

Small and regional law firms are looking to mergers to ward off competition from larger rivals, as a new tie-up in Virginia shows.

Woods Rogers and Vandeventer Black are merging to create a regional firm of 130 lawyers in five Virginia offices. The combination is a response to a changing competitive landscape across the state.

“We’ve seen more of the bigger firms trying to reach into other parts of Virginia over the last couple of years,” Daniel Summerlin, president of Woods Rogers, said in an interview. “We needed to make sure we’re doing what we needed to do to make ...