West Coast class action leader Lerach Coughlin Stoia & Robbins has moved back into New York, a month after the firm split from East Coast practice Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman.

The 51-partner San Diego-based firm, headed by William Lerach, has taken over the 15-lawyer class action firm Geller Rudman. The new firm will officially come into being on 1 August and will be called Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins. The combined firm will have approximately 140 lawyers.

Geller Rudman, which specialises in securities fraud, does not have a Manhattan office but has branches in Melville, New York and Boca Raton, Florida. Name partner Samuel Rudman was a partner at Milberg Weiss until last year

Lerach said the combined firm will open an office in Manhattan in the coming months, a move that may be seen as encroaching on Milberg Weiss territory.

Lerach, who also announced the opening of a small Seattle branch, said the two firms had been working out the details of the merger for some months.

Before Lerach split from Milberg Weiss in May this year, the former Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach was involved in 66% class action settlements in the USA last year, accounting for total awards of $2.11bn.

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