On the heels of Troutman Sanders and Pepper Hamilton’s merger vote last week, several Atlanta law firm leaders and legal recruiters said the deal shows a coherent strategy in combining geographic footprints that may expand the combined firm’s market share.

“This is one of a handful of mergers I’ve seen in the last couple of years that makes sense to me,” a partner in leadership at a large Atlanta firm observed. “What’s intriguing is this doubles their geographic footprint—and with very little office overlap.”