One year after Andrews Kurth merged with New York intellectual property boutique Kenyon & Kenyon, the Houston-based corporate law firm is interested in making another deal with another law firm.
Three current and former lawyers at Andrews Kurth Kenyon told The Texas Lawbook that some leaders at the firm believe that a merger with a larger national or regional law firm is strategically important for growth and survival.
Those lawyers say AKK has had discussions with Virginia-based Hunton & Williams about a combination that would create a 1,000-attorney firm with about $850 million in revenues.
If the firms were to merge, it would have about 400 lawyers in Texas generating about $300 million in revenues. Both firms have offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston.
The New York Law Journal, which is a division of American Lawyer Media, first disclosed merger discussions between the two firms in an article Wednesday afternoon. The publication said that a merger announcement is not expected anytime soon.
Officials at both firms declined to comment specifically on merger discussions.
“Growth is part of our strategic plan, so naturally we talk to other firms from time to time,” AKK spokeswoman Ashley Nelly said in a written statement. “We certainly don’t comment on speculation or confidential matters.”
Legal analysts said Wednesday night that the firms appear to be a good financial and cultural match, but they said they were unclear if the merger would attract new clients and lateral hires.
“Law firm mergers are successful when one plus one equals more than two,” a recently departed AKK partner told The Texas Lawbook on the condition of anonymity. “If AKK or Hunton are just merging to get bigger, it will be less than successful. But if the combination makes the lawyers at the firms better and services to clients better, then it will be successful.”
AKK was founded 115 years ago and now has about 400 lawyers – two-thirds of them in Texas – with 11 offices around the world. The firm’s Texas offices generated $230 million in revenues, ranking it as the seventh largest in the state. Each AKK lawyer in Texas generated about $908,000 in revenues in 2016.
AKK, which has a strong energy M&A and securities offerings practice, has represented 25 Texas companies involved in mergers and acquisitions valued at a combined $9.9 billion so far in 2017, according to Mergermarket.
Hunton & Williams, which boasts strong utility and technology practices, is based in Richmond and has more than 650 lawyers worldwide. The firm has about 90 lawyers in its Texas offices with revenues of about $72 million. Hunton reported revenues per lawyer of $820,000.