Dewey Ballantine must be thanking its lucky stars that it so narrowly avoided a union with an expansive mid-tier firm run by a forceful leader who calls all the shots in favour of its current impending union with an, er, expansive mid-tier firm run by a forceful leader who calls all the shots.

After all, LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae is helmed by a respected long-time chair in the shape of Steven Davis who has put his firm through a robust restructuring that has dramatically hiked profitability in the last five years.