The largest law firm in Venango County is about to get a little bigger.

Dale Woodard Gent, a four-lawyer firm in Franklin, recently announced a merger with Seneca-based McFate & Merkel. The combination is scheduled to take effect at the beginning of next year, and the new six-lawyer firm will be called Dale Woodard Gent McFate.

The larger firm was born out of another merger, in 2011, when Dale Woodard Law Firm and Gent, Gent & Snyder combined. But its roots go back to the 1930s, when Bob Dale and Ray Woodard started their practice.

Partner James Greenfield said the latest combination, like many small firm mergers, was largely motivated by succession planning. Greenfield spoke with The Legal about merging and integrating two law firms in a small legal market. His responses were edited lightly for length.

How did your firm get connected with McFate & Merkel?

We've known Bob McFate for a long time. He's been practicing for 40-some years, so we've known him. Greg [Merkel] is Bob's son-in-law, and he's been practicing in this county I think for five years with Bob.

Why did you make the decision to combine? What was in it for each of you?

We think very highly of both of [McFate and Merkel], of their legal abilities, and we seem to have the same approach to practicing law. Bob is 70 years old and approaching retirement. We saw it as an opportunity to add two quality attorneys. And one of our attorneys retired at the beginning of this year, so we saw this as an opportunity to get up to full strength.

What do you have to do to integrate the two practices?

There's just a lot of technical things to do. New computers, new office space, deciding which furniture to move and which to get rid of, integrating staff, integrating 401(k) plans, getting Westlaw subscriptions. Adding the two lawyers' practices is pretty easy, but it's the administrative details that are the difficult part.

How much staff does the combined firm have?

We will have, when they're here, nine. We have two state administration paralegals, one real estate paralegal, our office manager and the rest are secretarial.

What practices do you now offer all together?

In a rural area it's a general practice to some extent. We have one partner who practices almost exclusively on domestic transactions, two of us who do state administration, real estate, estate planning and business transactions, a fourth partner who does domestic transactions and a fair amount of litigation. McFate and Merkel would primarily be doing transactional work as well, but Greg also wants to do more litigation.

We often hear that small firms need to be especially forward-thinking about succession planning. What is your advice?

The most important thing is to find some people that are compatible with the way you practice law, what you're approach is and, frankly, what your ethics are. If you can find the right people , then it's kind of what we do every day planning for clients for succession.

Do you have any plans to add lawyers?

Bob McFate is 70, and two of our attorneys now are in their mid- to late-60s, so we're looking at them transitioning into retirement. There may be some replacement additions then, but the firm won't look to grow larger than six lawyers.

What are your thoughts on carrying on these law firms and their history?

It's surprising how many people remember the people who started the firms. At one time back in the day, every time we added a new partner we changed the name of the firm. More recently we decided it made more sense to be a little more like the big-city firms that have a name that doesn't change much. The name becomes unwieldy if you have six partners' names in the name of the firm.