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K&L Gates, Bell Boyd Consider Merger
The American Lawyer
December 04, 2008
Correction: An earlier version of this story reported revenue and profit figures from 2006 instead of 2007.
K&L Gates and Chicago's Bell, Boyd & Lloyd announced Thursday they are discussing a possible merger.
The merger -- if approved, it's expected to occur in the first three months of 2009 -- would create a 2,000-lawyer firm with 30 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia.
"We believe that K&L Gates and Bell Boyd share an appreciation for the communities in which we reside, a passion for the practice of law, and an enthusiasm for the growing global market for legal services," K&L Gates Chairman Peter Kalis and Bell Boyd Chairman John McCarthy said in a statement released Thursday. "Together, we believe that we will be in an unsurpassed position to deliver value to clients and to compete in the market for talent."
The move continues K&L Gates' expansion push, coming a little more than five months after the firm's merger with Charlotte, N.C.'s Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman. In January, K&L Gates merged with 175-lawyer Dallas firm Hughes & Luce. K&L Gates itself grew out of a January 2007 merger between Pittsburgh firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and Seattle firm Preston Gates & Ellis.
In 2007, K&L Gates had revenues of $755 million and profits per equity partner of $800,000. Bell Boyd had $129 million in revenue and profits per partner of $695,000.
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily blog on AmericanLawyer.com.
