Whether by way of ambition or pressure, Pennsylvania firms were active in the legal merger market last year. And that enthusiasm is likely to continue this year, industry watchers said.

Of the 106 law firm mergers announced in 2018, according to law firm consultancy Altman Weil, 17 involved at least one Pennsylvania firm. (That includes one deal by Offit Kurman, which was founded in Maryland but has its largest office in Philadelphia.)