For Many Law Firms, It’s ‘Eat or Be Eaten’

Law firm consolidation is beginning to resemble a game of Pac-Man.

“For many high-end lawyers, as for the companies and banks they represent, these are times to eat or be eaten,” reports Business Week. Carrying the gastronomical comparison further, the magazine notes that Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal recently “gobbled up 100 Thacher attorneys, swelling its ranks to 800 lawyers in 15 offices.”

Law firm consultant Peter Zeughauser told the publication that many strong law firms are seeking to poach good lawyers and practice groups from law firms that are struggling in the economic downturn.

The magazine says Sonnenschein’s acquisition of mostly capital markets lawyers “at first glance appears to border on the reckless.” But Joseph Andrew, a member of Sonnenschein's management committee, says the government banking bailout represents opportunity for the Thacher lawyers, who will be paired with the firm’s regulatory and lobbying practices.

Sonnenschein chairman Elliott Portnoy also defended his law firm's move in an interview posted on the Business Week website, echoing comments he made in an interview with the ABA Journal in December.

Portnoy told the Journal that the new Thacher lawyers don’t focus only on structured finance. “They represent some of the most significant institutions in the country who continue to have needs with restructuring, needs with new government programs and initiatives,” he said.