Law firm mergers in 2025 outpacing 2024 year-to-date, reports Fairfax Associates
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 1, 2025 – Fairfax Associates tracked 8 completed mergers in the third quarter of 2025 (meaning the effective date of the merger occurred during Q3 of 2025), bringing the total completed mergers for the first three quarters of the year to 47. This puts 2025 ahead of the pace set in 2024, which saw 43 mergers through the first three quarters.
The largest merger effective in Q3 is the combination of McDermott Will & Emery (1,336 lawyers) and Schulte Roth & Zabel (363 lawyers) to create McDermott, Will & Schulte. This merger was announced in Q2 and became effective in August. Another large merger is on the horizon, with Indianapolis-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister (824 lawyers) set to combine with Atlanta-based Morris Manning & Martin (120 lawyers) in Q4, Taft’s second significant merger of 2025. The next largest merger of the 3rd quarter was Kansas City-based Stinson (416 lawyers) combining with San Francisco-based Severson & Werson (30 lawyers).
Boutique law firms with specialized practices were involved in 2 of the quarter’s 7 mergers. Irvine-based Fisher & Phillips (568 lawyers) combined with Atlanta-based labor and employment boutique Elarbee Thompson Sapp & Wilson (22 lawyers), and Birmingham-based Maynard Nexsen (552 lawyers) combined with Atlanta-based real estate boutique Miller Lavoie (8 lawyers). Additionally, Phoenix-based Fennemore Craig (342 lawyers) announced a combination with Denver-based construction law boutique Galvanize Law (8 lawyers), set to become effective in Q4.
The remaining mergers involved small firms (where the smaller firm had between 5 and 20 lawyers). In the Mid-Atlantic region, Pennsylvania-based Stevens & Lee (213 lawyers) combined with New Jersey-based Brown, Moskowitz & Kallen (8 lawyers). In South Carolina, Smith Robinson (19 lawyers) and D’Alberto, Graham & Grimsley (5 lawyers) merged, and in Connecticut, New Haven-based Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey (90 lawyers) and New London-based Waller Smith & Palmer (5 lawyers) have joined forces.
In addition to the Q4 mergers already mentioned, Milwaukee-based Michael Best & Friedrich (347 lawyers) is set to merge with Denver-based Allen Vellone Wolf Helfrich & Factor (15 lawyers), and Kansas City-based Baker Sterchi Cowden & Rice (90 lawyers) has announced a combination with Madison-based Corneille Law Group, LLC (6 lawyers).
Fairfax Associates collects data from published reports, press releases and direct reports from law firms. Mergers are reported where the acquired firm has five or more lawyers and at least one of the firms is US based. Law firm combinations involving all lawyers from both firms are included in reports even if not officially reported as a merger by the firms. Upon routine verification of the data, some historical numbers may have been updated since previously issued reports, and the number of mergers contained herein may change as additional mergers are announced.