A recently rumored law firm merger won’t be happening.
According to three sources familiar with the matter, merger discussions between New York-based Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Washington D.C.-based Dickstein Shapiro have ended. Leaders from the two firms, which have 615 and 340 lawyers, respectively, had been in talks since late last year.
According to Thomson Reuters, a source who requested anonymity said that “conflicts of strategy” led to the end of the merger discussions. The source added that “finances indicated that one firm’s strengths were in one (practice) area while the other firm’s strengths were in another.”
A Pillsbury spokesman and the firm’s chair did not respond to Thomson Reuters’ requests for comment. A Dickstein spokeswoman also declined to comment on the failed merger talks, saying only that the firm is “optimistic about our model and our future, and plan to continue with our strategic focus of targeted growth in our highly regarded, premier practices.”
Dickstein is the most recent law firm Pillsbury has courted over the past couple years. In 2011, the firm was in talks with Fulbright & Jaworski before the latter announced that it would merge with Norton Rose in November 2012. Before that, Pillsbury considered merging with Nixon Peabody and Chadbourne & Parke.
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