Fellow US firm Cooley plans London office takeover
Dallas-bred Locke Lord and Boston’s Edwards Wildman Palmer became the latest US duo to announce plans to merge last month, as consolidation continues in the US national market. The news emerges as California firm Cooley prepares to launch in London, potentially taking on a major proportion of Edwards Wildman’s City team in the process.
Locke Lord and Edwards Wildman confirmed they had signed a letter of intent in mid-September to merge early next year, forming Locke Lord Edwards, a 1,000-lawyer firm with 23 offices. The new practice would be chaired by Jerry Clements, the current chair of Locke Lord, with Edwards Wildman head, Alan Levin, becoming vice chair of the combination.
The agreement was rapidly reached after initial discussions started in July, with Edwards Wildman making the approach after engaging US consultant Mestel & Company to compile a list of potential suitors.
The Texan firm is the larger of the two entities and currently ranks 87th in the Global 100 with 2013 revenues of $415m, a dip of 3%, while Edwards Wildman saw revenues fall 9% to $311.7m. This means that the announced combined revenues of the merged entity, $675m, is some way short of the 2013 revenues of the firms’ combined $726.7m.
In terms of profitability, Locke Lord’s profit per equity partner (PEP) of $935,000 is also significantly higher than Edwards Wildman, which posted PEP of $680,000 for 2013.
Both firms have substantial London presences, and are ranked in the top 50 US law firms in London by size. However this looks set to change, with Edwards Wildman facing a near takeover of its 20-partner City arm. At the time of going to press, negotiations with technology leader Cooley were, according to several sources, being finalised by Edwards Wildman commercial litigation head Laurence Harris.
Harris was part of the team that negotiated the 2008 merger between legacy US firm Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge and London outfit Kendall Freeman.
It follows the departure of five corporate partners including Shawn Atkinson, Stuart Blythe, David Ramm, Eero Rautalahti and Niall McAlister who exited the firm after feeling a lack of support from the US, together with issues of ‘disconnection’.
sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk