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Our clients are legal industry leaders who seek to outperform their competitors. They turn to Zeughauser Group to increase competitive advantage and profitability, enhance market position, and strengthen organizational culture. Our consulting team of former Global 25 law firm chairs, general counsel, and leading law firm CMOs has represented nearly 80% of the 100 largest US law firms by revenue.

Clients or Partners? Who Does a Big Law Merger Have to Please More?

Kent Zimmermann and Hugh Simons define a merger as one means for a firm to drive its strategy forward. In this article, they discuss what exactly a strategy is, how, in theory, a merger might move a firm forward, and in practice, what tends to happen in a merger.

We have advised eight of the ten largest US firms by revenue.

We have advised 17 of the 25 largest global firms by revenue.

We have advised nearly 80% of the 100 largest US firms by revenue.

With Scale Top of Mind, More Law Firms Are Willing to Put Merger Option on Table

Law firm mergers are off to another strong start in 2024, with multiple combinations that span all corners of the continental U.S announced this week. Kent Zimmermann notes that over the past 24 months, higher-performing, higher-quality firms are putting mergers and acquisitions on the table when they hadn’t done so historically. One huge driver on why so many firms are interested in mergers is the recognition of significant benefits of scale.

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Cravath Salary Raises Pressure Rivals Who Can’t Afford Match

Cravath Swaine & Moore’s move to raise associate salaries beyond the scale set by its rival Milbank pressures less-profitable firms to ponder pay bumps they can’t afford. While firms in the top tiers of revenue and profitability are likely to follow Cravath’s lead - and several already have - others in the industry are ill-positioned to do so. Peter Zeughauser observes that the prospect of Cravath-type raises will stress a lot of firms. Some will avoid such raises and suffer the fall-out of “more poaching” from firms that can pay top compensation.

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Foreign Law Firms Recalibrate China Strategy as Environment Toughens

International law firms operating in China have trimmed headcounts in China and Hong Kong as a result of the weaker economic environment. Peter Zeughauser observes that the China market isn’t for everyone, so firms need to chart their own China strategy. He also highlights a bigger common problem facing international firms in China at the moment, and that is the rise in sophistication of homegrown Chinese firms.

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