Philadelphia-based litigation firm Rawle & Henderson has opened three new offices along the East Coast, absorbing New York-based boutique Spiegel Leffler.

Partners William Spiegel, Marc Leffler and Robyn Goldfarb are joining Rawle & Henderson in the move, along with of counsel Elisa Karnis and associates Justine Woods and Michael Ashton.

The three new offices are in Midtown Manhattan; Jersey City, New Jersey; and New Haven, Connecticut. They make for a total of 11 offices for Rawle & Henderson across the mid-Atlantic region.

John McMeekin II, a member of Rawle & Henderson's executive committee, said the combination is not a merger in the legal sense. But all of Spiegel Leffler's staff will be joining Rawle & Henderson, and the latter firm will be taking over Spiegel Leffler's existing office space in each of the three new locations.

Rawle & Henderson, a 235-year-old firm, already had offices in the Financial District and on Long Island in New York, as well as a Marlton location in New Jersey. The combination marks the firm's entry into Connecticut.

The six lawyers provide litigation services in a variety of areas, but are particularly focused on medical and dental malpractice defense. McMeekin noted that the new group also adds some capabilities in immigration and labor and employment law, as well as the benefit of having a board-certified surgeon, Leffler, within the medical malpractice group.

McMeekin said one of his partners in New York represented a co-defendant of a Spiegel Leffler client, and that's how the two firms got connected. They began discussing a potential combination in the late spring or early summer, he said.

"There are certainly efficiencies from joining a larger firm, and those will be great for both of us. But really the motivating force in this is we have similar practice areas so we're better able to serve their existing clients and our existing clients," McMeekin said.

He declined to say how much business the new group will add to his firm, but he said the per-lawyer financial metrics of the two firms were well matched because they practice in the same space.

While the combination does come with new offices for Rawle & Henderson, McMeekin acknowledged, that was not necessarily the goal. The deal was more related to the practice needs of clients, he said. While Rawle & Henderson is not opposed to growing geographically, he noted, it has turned down opportunities to bring on groups in the Midwest, California and Florida in the past.

Asked whether the firm will add more lawyers to its new offices, he said "absolutely," but how many, he noted, is "hard to tell now." That will depend on how the "getting-to-know-each-other period" goes, he said.

"These are great folks and we think they're here for the right reasons and the long term for us," McMeekin added.