K&L Gates, Bell Boyd Vote To Join Forces

By Erin Coe

Law360, New York (January 30, 2009) -- Partners of K&L Gates LLP and Bell Boyd & Lloyd LLP voted Friday in favor of a merger that will expand K&L Gates' presence in Chicago and San Diego and boost the firms’ practices in intellectual property, investment management and other key areas.

The combination with Chicago-based Bell Boyd’s 250 lawyers will create a firm of about 1,900 lawyers in 31 offices spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, and the merger is set to go into effect on March 1.

The merger will allow international firm K&L Gates to extend its domestic reach to 23 U.S. offices, including offices in the world’s fourth-largest legal market, in Chicago, and the thriving life sciences market in San Diego. With more than 200 lawyers in Chicago, the combined firm will be among the largest in the city of firms not based there, and a combined team of 250 lawyers and policy professionals will give the firms a stronger foothold in Washington, D.C.

The tie-up will build on both of the firms’ formidable practices in the areas of IP and investment management, as well as enhance their teams’ corporate transactions, litigation, bankruptcy and real estate focuses.

“All of Bell Boyd’s groups in combination with our own will help create a national and international branding in those fields that every law firm desires,” said K&L Gates global managing partner and Chairman Peter J. Kalis.

Bell Boyd Chairman John T. McCarthy said the combination is a “home run” for both firms.

“The merger gives us a lot of muscle and expands our ability to serve the needs of our Chicago-based clients in other areas,” McCarthy said.

Despite a tough economic climate, McCarthy said the firms are able to accomplish a merger because neither firm has any debt.

“Partners from both firms are basically self-funded. It’s because of those fiscal responsibilities that allow us to do the merger. We are cut from the same cloth,” McCarthy said.

Friday’s vote came after the two firms had been in merger discussions since the summer.

The largest two departments at both firms are intellectual property and real estate, according to a recent Law360 survey. K&L Gates has 175 IP lawyers, while Bell Boyd has 75, and the real estate department at K&L Gates consists of 155 lawyers, with 30 at Bell Boyd.

The two firms have nearly the same number of antitrust lawyers: 15 at K&L Gates and 10 at Bell Boyd. K&L Gates has 50 lawyers in its product liability practice, an area that Bell Boyd is not involved in.

K&L Gates was listed as the nation's 10th-largest law firm in the most recent National Law Journal 250 list, while Bell Boyd came in at No. 167.

K&L Gates has a history of representing capital markets participants, entrepreneurs, growth and middle market companies, leading Fortune 100 global corporations and public sector entities.

Bell Boyd has represented firms in matters involving investment management, mergers and acquisitions, securities, finance, patent and trademark prosecution, intellectual property litigation, commercial and securities litigation, and real estate.

The combined firm will have offices in Anchorage, Alaska; Austin, Texas; Beijing; Berlin; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Harrisburg, Pa.; Hong Kong; London; Los Angeles; Miami; Newark, N.J.; New York; Orange County and Palo Alto, Calif.; Paris; Pittsburgh; Portland, Ore.; Raleigh and Research Triangle Park, N.C.; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai, China; Spokane/Coeur d’Alene, Wash.; Taipei, Taiwan; and Washington.

K&L Gates merged with two other firms last year.

In July, it combined with Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman LLP, one of the largest firms in North Carolina and South Carolina, creating the largest presence of any global firm in the Carolinas.

Kennedy Covington's 175 attorneys in five offices joined what at the time was K&L Gates' 1,500 attorneys. Kennedy Covington was founded in 1957 and specializes in banking and finance, real estate, technology and health care. The combined firm maintained the K&L Gates name.

In January 2008, K&L Gates merged with 34-year-old Texas-based firm Hughes & Luce LLP. H&L had approximately 150 lawyers, with headquarters in Dallas and additional offices in Fort Worth and Austin. The firm specialized in mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, tax, public policy and real estate.

Both moves were seen as increasing K&L Gates' presence in geographic areas, Texas and the Carolinas, that are home to a growing number of Fortune 1000 companies.

K&L Gates itself was created in January 2007 through a union of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP and Preston Gates & Ellis LLP.

--Additional reporting by Ryan Davis and Erin Marie Daly