Phoenix-headquartered Am Law 200 firm Snell & Wilmer is helping to kick off the 2020 law firm merger season, announcing a combination with eight-lawyer commercial finance boutique Assayag Mauss.

“We began discussions last February with this group,” Matthew Feeney, chair of Snell & Wilmer, said in an interview. “We came to a meeting of the minds in October. This is a very good boutique firm that was courted a lot. I think we came to respect each other during the process.”