Clark Hill announces merger with West Coast law firm
Clark Hill is merging with West Coast law firm Morris Polich & Purdy, a law firm with about 100 lawyers.
The combined law firm will have more than 450 lawyers in 16 offices in nine states, according to a press release. The Am Law Daily (sub. req.) had a story in advance of the formal merger announcement.
Morris Polich has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Las Vegas. The merged firm will operate under the name Clark Hill.
Clark Hill, which was founded in Detroit, had expanded to the East Coast through a merger with Pittsburgh-based Thorp Reed & Armstrong in 2013, according to the Am Law Daily. Law firm leaders were interested in a West Coast presence to avoid losing client opportunities.
Morris Polich managing partner Donald Ridge told the Am Law Daily that he had previously rejected merger overtures from larger firms that appeared interested in Morris Polich’s life sciences practice, but didn’t seem committed to the firm’s other lawyers.
Ridge said he liked Clark Hill’s primary goals: to grow into one of America’s top 100 law firms and to be recognized as one of the nation’s best workplaces. Before the merger, Clark Hill was ranked No. 167 among law firms based on last year’s gross revenue. It would have been ranked No. 150 had the merger taken place last year.
