The law firm merger market didn’t rebound in the third quarter of 2009, but it did show some signs of life after a sluggish second quarter.

Thirteen U.S. firms (pdf) announced mergers between the start of July and the end of September, according to Altman Weil‘s latest MergerLine report. That’s up from just seven announcements in the second quarter, but down from the 25 mergers announced in the first quarter of the year.