Law firms merged at a record pace during the first half of 2017, with the year on track to record 104 law firm acquisitions—13 more than the next busiest year (2015) ever tallied by Altman Weil Inc.'s MergerLine.

Lest anyone get confused, this is primarily not a Big Law story.

The merger boom is fueled by small, independent firms in second-tier markets. And at no time was that more apparent than the month of June, when four of the nine recorded mergers involved small firms in the U.S. Midwest.