Lisa Smith is quoted. “We are continuing to see firms anywhere from 100 lawyers to 600 to 700 lawyers feel like they need more scale in order to compete effectively,” says Lisa Smith, a principal at Fairfax Associates. “I think we’ll continue to see consolidation in the form of laterals and groups or small acquisitions or mergers of equal size. Consolidation is going to continue to be big in 2020.”

Lisa Smith is quoted. “Those are priority growth markets for firms going national, and they are markets where it’s hard to get talent,” Smith said.

Kristin Stark is mentioned as having introduced the two firms to one another.

Lisa Smith is quoted. “It’s the bigger combinations that drive consolidation,” Smith said. “If there were 100 mergers of two-lawyer firms, they wouldn’t make much of a difference in the legal market.”

Lisa Smith is quoted. “It’s surprising this year that we haven’t seen the big mergers we have seen in the past,” adding that she wouldn’t rule out more significant combinations slated for Jan. 1, 2020, or beyond.

Kristin Stark is quoted. “One of the themes here is that the data is simply not reflective of the reality of how many firms are talking about mergers.”

Lisa Smith’s article reviews both successful and unsuccessful law firm mergers of the past several years in order to explore areas in which future problems might be avoided. She seeks to identify the critical factors which are more likely to make the critical differences.