Verrill Dana merges with litigation boutique
Verrill Dana has announced a merger with litigation boutique Friedman Gaythwaite Wolf.
The merger, effective on Thursday, creates a firm with 118 lawyers that is the second largest in Maine, report the Bangor Daily News and Mainebiz. It will use the Verrill Dana name.
Verrill Dana managing partner K.C. Jones told the Bangdor Daily News that Friedman Gaythwaite Wolf will add litigation experience and depth to the larger firm.
“They have 12 trial lawyers who will join our litigation practice and in today’s world of litigation, there’s increasing demand for specialized legal services and due to their complexities, there’s a need to take a team approach to legal problems,” he said. “This merger will give us additional depth to take on more of these types of cases.”
Though Jones mentioned 12 lawyers at Friedman Gaythwaite Wolf, there are 11 listed on the Verrill Dana website.
Among the lawyers in the smaller firm is Harold Friedman, who is often retained to “parachute in” as trial counsel in significant cases, according to a Verrill Dana press release. He frequently represents product manufacturers, parties in commercial disputes and clients in personal catastrophic injury cases.
Another name partner, Martha Gaythwaite, has tried more than 150 civil jury cases, including complex product liability, toxic tort and environmental cases. The third, Karen Frink Wolf, has a practice devoted to medical and professional responsibility matters, pharmaceutical product liability, complex commercial litigation, and high stakes domestic relations.
