Cameron Findlay, general counsel of global food processing and commodities trading company Archer Daniels Midland Co., says it seems like a near-weekly occurrence that one of his outside law firms calls to announce a forthcoming merger with another firm or to say that they’re considering a merger.

This “wave of consolidation,” as Findlay describes it, has been building. But the trend began to accelerate in 2018 and 2019, when mergers and acquisitions of U.S. law firms exceeded 200 in total, setting back-to-back records for M&A activity in the legal industry.