TradePost Archives > December 11, 2008 > this article

Frost Brown Todd merges with Indy firm

December 5, 2008
By Sarah Jeffords Pister, Business First of Louisville

Frost Brown Todd LLC, one of the largest law firms in Louisville and the Midwest, expanded its regional footprint this week when it reached a merger agreement with Indianapolis-based Locke Reynolds LLP.

Locke Reynolds — best known for its litigation practice — has 79 lawyers and 76 staff members. Its geographic reach consists of offices in the Capitol Center in downtown Indianapolis and in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Frost Brown Todd is a much larger entity, with 385 attorneys and 836 staff members. It operates nine offices across Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, West Virginia and Ohio. In the Louisville area, Frost Brown Todd has 130 attorneys.

The merger agreement between the two firms will become effective Jan. 5. The Frost Brown Todd and Locke Reynolds merger might not be the only deal between Louisville and Indianapolis firms.

According to a Dec. 2 report by the Indianapolis Business Journal, another large regional firm, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC, might merge with Ice Miller LLP of Indianapolis. Sources said the merger could occur by Jan. 1.

Officials with both firms declined to comment on the deal, and it is unclear where the merged firm would be based.

Combined revenue projected at $175 million
The Frost Brown Todd name will be used for the combined firm, which is projected to have 2009 revenue of $175 million.

“We expect the new firm to continue to grow because of the opportunities of cross-selling,” said Ed Glasscock, co-managing member for Frost Brown Todd. “It was a perfect fit.”

James Dimos, a partner in Locke Reynolds and member of its management committee, agreed that the merger presents “major opportunities” in terms of services and recruitment.

“We believe we can attract other Indianapolis lawyers to join Frost Brown Todd,” Dimos said.

All Locke Reynolds attorneys to be retained
The merger will bring few visible changes for Frost Brown Todd’s Louisville and Cincinnati offices, which jointly serve as the headquarters for the firm.

The Locke Reynolds operations will be rebranded as regional offices of Frost Brown Todd. Nelson Alexander, chairman of Locke Reynolds’ management committee, will serve as member-in-charge of the Indianapolis office. Plans call for retaining all Locke Reynolds staff and attorneys, said Jill Burton, executive director of Frost Brown Todd.

She added that officials with both firms will work together to integrate telephones, computer networks and accounting systems. Billing services most likely will be centralized, and personnel policies are being discussed among the human resources managers.

But from an operations perspective, Burton said, the two firms are “very compatible.”

Benefits for both sides
Officials with both firms say the same holds true with regard to clients and practice areas. For instance, Locke Reynolds and Frost Brown Todd both do work with Fortune 500 companies in Indianapolis. There also is overlap in practice areas, such as construction, product liability, intellectual property and environmental law.

At the same time, each firm brings something unique to the deal. Locke Reynolds handles litigation on behalf of many U.S. automotive manufacturers, which is a sector Frost Brown Todd would like to enter. And Locke Reynolds’ litigation practice in general is an asset, Glasscock said, especially now that the economy is treading through troubled times.

A benefit for Locke Reynolds in this merger is that it gives the firm a much broader geographic reach and a larger network of attorneys.

A strategic fit
Locke Reynolds and Frost Brown Todd began discussing the possibility of a merger in the spring. Glasscock immediately was receptive to the idea of an Indianapolis office. An expansion into that city already had been identified as part of the firm’s strategic plan, which calls for Frost Brown Todd to become the “premier” law firm between Chicago and Atlanta, Glasscock said.

He believes his firm is able to offer competitive rates to regional and national clients while delivering the same level of legal services found in larger markets. It does so by basing its operations in mid-sized cities — such as Louisville, Cincinnati and Nashville — where the firm can take advantage of a lower cost of living and overhead expenses.

Frost Brown Todd had built a network of offices across the Midwest, but it had no presence in Indianapolis. Firm officials had eyed that market for the past two years and at times it entered into preliminary merger discussions with other firms.

When Locke Reynolds approached Frost Brown Todd, Glasscock said, Frost Brown Todd officials finally found the right fit.

Locke Reynolds wanted to expand its reach
Dimos said his firm was drawn to Frost Brown Todd’s geographic reach and the quality of its lawyers.
Locke Reynolds had been looking to align with another firm in an effort to boost its practice areas. The firm had evaluated other potential merger partners within its local market.

It also hired Hildebrandt International Inc. consulting firm to identify 10 regional firms that would make strong merger candidates. Frost Brown Todd was at the top of the list, Dimos said.

Process is not over
Ed Wesemann, a partner in Kerma Partners, the consulting firm that Frost Brown Todd hired to assist in the Locke Reynolds merger, said the firms made the right decision. The question firms have to ask when evaluating these situations, Wesemann said, is, “Can we be better together than we ever will be apart? Here, it’s very clearly yes.”

There was a question of whether the timing was right because of the economic conditions, but in this case, with Locke Reynolds’ litigation practice, it made sense to move forward. That’s not to say there won’t be challenges ahead. Despite months of discussions, there is the task of integrating the two firms. “We still have to get to know each other better and our capabilities,” Dimos said. “I’m confident we can achieve that.”

Frost Brown Todd has a history of collaboration among lawyers from different offices, Wesemann said. And the firm’s leaders navigated the 2000 merger between Brown Todd & Heyburn and Frost & Jacobs of Cincinnati, so this is not new ground. There also is the challenge of conveying the right message to the firms’ respective clients.

For the combined entity to reap the benefit of this transition, Wesemann said, firm officials “have to make sure their clients are aware of the opportunities this brings to them.”