As Big Law budgets grow, law firms are pouring more resources into business development for associates. Mayer Brown recently expanded an associate-driven program run by associates and associate-level employees. Mary K Young notes that every firm is a little bit different in how they develop business.

Legacy New York firms are seeking to keep pace with growing competition through mergers and acquisitions. Kent Zimmermann observes that small and less profitable firms are growing size and profitability slower, so they have a growing differential on profitability in comparison to higher-performing competitors. And Mary K Young advises smaller clients to be as profitable as they can be in order to get and retain talent.

This article is the third in a series on law firm mergers. The first piece examined how mergers succeed, and the second one discussed turning a firm with declining profits into an accretive acquisition. This third article discusses the strategies of mergers and their impact on both clients and partners.