K&L Gates in Merger Talks With N.C. Law Firm
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, a law firm that is the product of two recent mergers, is in merger talks with yet another law firm, this one from North Carolina.
The possible merger partner is Charlotte-based Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, a 175-lawyer firm with five offices in North and South Carolina, the American Lawyer reports. The merger would create a 1,700-lawyer firm.
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and Preston Gates & Ellis merged in January 2007 to form K&L Gates. A year later, the firm merged with Hughes & Luce in Dallas.
K&L Gates chairman Peter Kalis told the American Lawyer that Kennedy Covington is a regional firm with a national reputation. Both law firms serve clients in the financial services industry, and Charlotte is the second largest financial center in the United States, Kalis said in a joint statement with the managing partner of Kennedy Covington, Eugene “Gene” Pridgen.
“Both firms feature strong practices that would service the extraordinary growth in the corporate and life science sectors in the Raleigh and Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina,” the statement said.
As many as 18 Kennedy Covington lawyers jumped to Winston & Strawn earlier this year.
