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Florida ranked as the third most active state for mergers, according to consultancy Altman Weil. The top ranking comes as the Sunshine State sees increased legal interest from global vereins such as Dentons and Baker McKenzie and from billionaires fleeing high-tax states.

Last year was a record year for law firm combinations. Firms across the globe combined in 115 mergers—nine more than the previous record of 106 combinations set in 2018. Florida saw seven law firm combinations last year, according to Altman's MergerLine report, putting the state one ahead of Georgia and Minnesota (6) and behind New York (8) and California (9).

The figure does not include Greenberg Traurig's two acquisitions, as Altman classified the Am Law 100 firm as a New York shop. Had Greenberg been considered a Florida firm, (it is headquartered in Miami), its mergers would have pushed Florida into a tie with California for the No. 1 spot.

A majority of Florida's mergers involved a much larger firm absorbing a smaller one, a trend that held nationwide. GrayRobinson, fresh off of a leadership change, absorbed two boutiques in 2019. The Am Law 200 firm acquired nine attorneys from Tampa-based Thompson Sizemore Gonzalez and five lawyers from IP boutique Espinosa Martinez in Miami.

Kelley Kronenberg, which just moved into a 35,000-square-foot office building in Davie, acquired Miami-based Diaz Briscoe Medina and its six attorneys in October. The insurance defense boutique fit well with the larger Kelley, which is known for its own insurance defense work. In an October interview with the Daily Business Review, Diaz Briscoe Medina founder Esperanza Diaz Briscoe said that the opportunity for a larger platform and less administrative work made the merger a good fit.

Buffalo, New York-based Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman continued its Florida expansion by absorbing  Jacksonville-based Holbrook Akel Cold Ray & Reichard in May. The acquisition adds seven attorneys to the firm's 100-lawyer head count and comes two years after the firm opened a Ponte Vedra Beach office.

Greenberg Traurig saw its mergers come internationally. In July, Greenberg scooped up 37 attorneys in its acquisition of longtime Italian partner Santa Maria Studio Legale in Milan. In November, the firm also merged with Orozco Waters Abogados, a Mexico City-based firm. The combination brought on project finance shareholder Rodrigo Orozco Waters and four associates and came as a boon to Greenberg's Latin America practice, which it rebuilt after the departure of several high-level partners to Morrison Foerster.

The rest of the Florida mergers involved boutique firms:

  • Miami-based Therrel Baisden acquired four-attorney Weiner & Cummings in August, bringing their total head count to 13.
  • Hollywood-based Eisinger Brown absorbed Gainesville-based McCarty Naim Focks & Keeter in January, bringing their total head count to 13.
  • Fort Lauderdale-based Lawlor White & Murphey combined with Sunrise, Florida-based Abramowitz Pomerantz & Morehead in October, bringing their total head count to 7.

The flurry of merger activity is yet another sign that Florida's legal market is playing a bigger role in the domestic and international legal market. Global verein Dentons sees Florida as a linchpin for its ambitious U.S. expansion, lauding the state's enormous legal spend and untapped potential. Morrison Foerster opened its first Florida office in June, and Baker McKenzie announced that Miami would be the hub for the creation of its global Latin America practice.

Florida attorneys have also stood to benefit from 2017 federal tax changes, which capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000. Fleeing higher taxes, Billionaire financiers including Carl Icahn and Barry Sternlicht have made South Florida their home, bringing their staff and headquarters with them.

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