Merger will create ‘super-regional’ Midwestern firm
Law Firms
Merger will create ‘super-regional’ Midwestern firm
December 7, 2023, 9:08 am CST
“This has been the most vetted transaction in the history of transactions,” said Ulmer & Berne managing partner Scott Kadish. “It allowed us to ensure there is a really good fit in terms of culture.” Image from Shutterstock.
Ulmer & Berne and Greensfelder Hemker & Gale announced Tuesday that they are merging effective Feb. 1, a combination that will produce a “super-regional firm” with about 275 lawyers in nine offices.
The new law firm will be called UB Greensfelder and will be focused in the Midwest, according to a Dec. 5 press release. Both firms have offices in Chicago, but the combined firm’s largest office will be in St. Louis, where more than 100 lawyers will be located.
The merged firm would have ranked at about the No. 181 spot in the most recent Am Law 200 list based on $150 million in combined gross annual revenues, according to the press release.
Co-managing partners of the new firm will be Ulmer managing partner Scott Kadish and Greensfelder president and CEO Kevin McLaughlin.
The firms first began discussing a merger in 2019, but they stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of McLaughlin’s predecessor, Timothy Thornton, according to Kadish and McLaughlin, who spoke with Law.com.
“This has been the most vetted transaction in the history of transactions,” Kadish said. “It allowed us to ensure there is a really good fit in terms of culture.”
