Patton Boggs, long a major force in law and in lobbying on Capitol Hill, is in merger talks with Squire Sanders, an international firm that was founded in Cleveland. The possible combination comes as Patton Boggs is trying to navigate changes in the legal industry since the 2008 financial crisis.
The two firms issued a joint statement saying that they are in the “very early stages†of talks, which, if successful, would result In a huge firm, with some 1,700 lawyers in 45 offices in 22 countries.
Patton Boggs, in addition to offices in several cities in the United States, has offices in the Middle East, which could complement the Squire Sanders offices in Europe, Asia and Latin America. When contacted, both firms said they were declining to comment further until they determined whether to proceed with the matchup.
Patton Boggs had been in merger talks last fall with the Texas-based law firm Locke Lord, but the talks ended. No official reason was given, although some legal experts said there might have been hesitancy about Patton Boggs’s liability if the Chevron Corporation follows through on its threat to sue in a long-running dispute over damage to Amazon rain forests.
In recent weeks, Patton Boggs announced it would be closing its office in Newark because its profitability had fallen. That came on the heels of the firm agreeing to represent Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey in the scandal over lane closings at the George Washington Bridge.
Squire Sanders has about 1,300 lawyers and represents blue-chip clients like 3M, Barclays, BP, Boeing and DuPont. It was founded in 1890 and also has a Washington, D.C., office.
Patton Boggs was founded in 1962, and is noted for its lobbying prowess. The name partner Thomas Boggs played a crucial role in winning a bailout for Chrysler in 1979. In the past year, the firm has downsized twice, and is now in the 400-lawyer range, as its revenues slid 6.5 percent from 2011 to 2012 and its profits per partner, a key measurement for firms, fell by 15 percent.
Like dozens of other firms, Patton Boggs has been seeking to combine with a counterpart firm where there are no conflicts over representing clients.
Several sets of talks among major firms have been scrubbed over lawyer reluctance to part with clients. Even so, there were a record 87 such combinations, of all sizes, last year.
