Gray Cary to Merge With Law Firm Ware & Freidenrich
San Diego’s largest law firm, Gray Cary Ames & Frye, announced Wednesday that it will merge with Ware & Freidenrich in Palo Alto, the second-largest law firm in Silicon Valley.
The new firm--Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich--will be the state’s eighth-largest firm, with 273 attorneys and annual billings of about $80 million. No staff cutbacks are planned, and the two firms will have equal representation on an eight-member executive committee.
Like many law firms in Southern California, Gray Cary has been hurt by the downturns in the economy, particularly its practice in defense-related manufacturing and real estate law. The number of attorneys at Gray Cary, which was founded in 1927, has fallen to 165 from 183 in the past two years.
Don G. Rushing, the firm’s managing partner, said the merger with the 108-attorney Ware & Freidenrich firm, which was founded in 1969, will allow the new firm to attract more high-technology and investment-banking clients.
Greg Gallo, managing partner at Ware & Freidenrich, also said a merger will add broad litigation expertise and give it a San Diego presence.
Bert Early, who heads a Chicago-based executive search and consulting firm, said mergers have been common among large firms trying to deal with shrinking business and growing competition caused by an oversupply of lawyers.
California has 113,500 attorneys, up 4,000 from a year ago, according to the State Bar of California.
Mergers of large law firms are often turbulent and lead to a painful reorganization and “a weeding out” of unproductive attorneys within a year of the merger, Early said.
Times researcher Kate McCarthy contributed to this report.
