The same forces that drove law firms to combine or merge in 2019 are likely to continue into the new year, even as the specter of a potential recession looms larger in the background.

The latter half of the year saw several major merger announcements: Minneapolis-based Faegre Baker Daniels and Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle & Reath voted to join forces to create a new Am Law 50 firm, Cincinnati-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister and Minneapolis-based Briggs and Morgan said they would merge to create a 600-lawyer firm, and Kansas City, Missouri-based Lathrop Gage is merging with Minneapolis’ Gray Plant Mooty to form the 400-lawyer Lathrop GPM.