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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis-based law firm Bingham McHale will merge with Louisville-based law firm Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, a regional firm that explored the possibility of merging with another Indiana firm three years ago.
The two law firms announced Wednesday morning that members had voted in support of the merger between Bingham McHale and the 117-lawyer firm Greenebaum Doll & McDonald, creating what will become Bingham Greenebaum Doll with nearly 250 attorneys once the merger takes effect Jan. 2.
Bingham McHale’s managing partner Toby McClamroch told Indiana Lawyer the merger moved quickly and has been in the works for about 10 weeks. It was specifically the transactional, tax and natural resources practice areas of Greenebaum that were the most appealing to Bingham, he said.
In a written statement, McClamroch said, “Bingham McHale LLP is not only increasing the depth and breadth of our experience in key areas such as tax and finance, but we are also entering into a true merger that honors both firms’ histories and current successes.”
With 130 lawyer and 11 paralegals currently, Bingham is listed as the fourth-largest firm in Indianapolis, and its roots date back to 1919. Formerly known as Bingham Summers Welsh & Spilman, it merged with local competitor McHale Cook & Welch in 2001 to form Bingham McHale.
Greenebaum Doll & McDonald began exploring a merger with Indianapolis firm Ice Miller in December 2008, but no merger occurred.
“We will be expanding our geographic footprint and strengthening our knowledge base in areas such as governmental work and municipal bonding,” Greenebaum Chairman Phillip D. Scott said in a statement.
The combined firm will retain Bingham’s offices in Indianapolis, Jasper and Vincennes and will also add an office in Evansville at the start of the year. Greenebaum’s offices in Louisville, Lexington, and Frankfort, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio, will also be retained.
Bingham McHale’s clients include Gatorade Trust, the group that invented the Gatorade sports drink; locally based mall giant Simon Property Group Inc.; and French-based Saint-Gobain, a large building-materials company that has operations in Indianapolis. Greenebaum Doll’s clients include Louisville insurer Humana Inc. and franchisees of the KFC restaurant chain.
This has been an active year for local law firm mergers, with several others announced in recent months to take effect at the start of 2012.
Most recently, the Evansville firms of Kahn Dees Donovan & Kahn and Lavallo & Frank in Dec. 11 announced they’d be joining together under the name of Kahn Dees Donovan & Kahn effective Jan. 1. Together, the combined firm will have 30 attorneys.
In October, 221-attorney firm Baker & Daniels, based in Indianapolis, announced a merger with 500-lawyer Faegre & Benson in Minneapolis, and effective Jan. 1 the combined firm will be known as Faegre Baker Daniels.
That came after the August announcement by Ice Miller that it would combine its 224-attorneys with the 90-attorney firm Schottenstein Zox & Dunn in Columbus, Ohio. That merger takes effect Jan. 1, but will not result in a departure from the Ice Miller name.
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