Update, 1/7/2013, 6:15 p.m. EST: Comments from recent Schiff Hardin lateral Carmen Gentile have been added to the fifth and eighth paragraphs below.

Schiff Hardin is the latest Am Law 200 firm to use a merger to expand in a niche practice, announcing Monday that it has joined forces with 10-lawyer Washington, D.C., energy boutique Bruder, Gentile & Marcoux.