Lisa Smith, who heads the Washington office of consultants Fairfax Associates, sees the combination as transformative for both firms. “It changes the competitive position of the combined firm significantly—not just from size, but also geographic breadth and practice depth,” said Smith, who is a longtime adviser to ArentFox.

Lisa Smith is quoted “When we look at the driver of profitability, it really is driven by RPL. The way you get to higher RPL is getting practices that are known-fors and being able to offer a range of services to clients”.

Lisa Smith is quoted “It’s hard to grow substantially when you’re growing organically. It takes longer, is more difficult, and is more expensive,” Smith said.

“But Fairfax principal Lisa Smith expects that the pace of mergers will rise next year, as firms look to increase market share and enhance their depth and scale. She’s heard from a number of firms engaged in discussions, and expects that it will be easier to pursue in-person meetings to ease along the process in 2022.”

“Another draw for Austin is geography, Smith said. Texas has multiple business centers, and to be effective, many firms decide they need multiple offices, such as one in Dallas and another in Austin.”