Discussion of Firms and Life in SF/SV

Originally posted by acousticguitar
{I}s there any substance to the rumor that COOLEY and WILSON are doing due diligence on each other? (its on the GA bd)

Yeah, the cat's pretty much out of the bag on this one; we're expecting an announcement tomorrow. Apparently, diligence was pretty brief and the conflicts look surmountable. (There will have to be a pretty sizable divestiture/spin-off in one litigation department as a first step.)

Apparently the potential deal-breaker is which agency does the HSR pre-merger clearance. Perception is that the agreement would get by the FTC but probably get a second request from the Antitrust Division. (Based on a combination of recent actions and strength of contacts at the firms.) A second request would probably cause serious defections.

There isn't much history to go on, because there aren't a lot of horizontal mergers among law firms with as much local share as WSGR and Cooley. The FTC has professional services under the 2002 MOA with Justice, but DOJ has been a little restive here. There was a turf skirmish last year when two law firms (Duben, Broma & Witz and Narr MacGuffin, in Charlotte) got cleared by the FTC but the DOJ demanded to review the deal.