Lewis and Roca to merge with Rothgerber; combined firm will have about 250 lawyers
Phoenix-based law firm Lewis and Roca will merge with Denver-based firm Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons on Sept. 1.
The merged firm will have about 250 lawyers in nine offices and will be called Lewis Roca Rothgerber, report the Am Law Daily and the Denver Business Journal.
Lewis and Roca managing partner Kenneth Van Winkle will have the same position in the new firm while Rothgerber chairman Fred Baumann will be chairman of the new firm’s executive committee.
Van Winkle and Baumann told the Am Law Daily and the Denver Business Journal that both firms have similar compensation and governance structures. Both firms have two-tier partnerships with a minority of income partners, Van Winkle said. None of the equity partners will lose that status, and no layoffs are expected.
According to the Am Law Daily, Lewis and Roca “has been shrinking gradually over the past few years.” The firm was ranked 194th in terms of gross income in 2009, but last year it didn’t qualify for the list of top 200 firms. Van Winkle told the publication that many firms in the southwest were hard hit by the economic downturn. Since then, “we’ve worked hard to adapt the firm to make sure we can provide the services to our clients by the right people, in the right practice areas and with the value we expect,” he said.
