Both firms have confirmed they are having ‘preliminary discussions’, though a spokesperson for Reed Smith said in a statement that ‘There remains a significant amount of work to do with Pepper Hamilton … before any transaction would be ready to bring to the Reed Smith partnership.’ According to a lawyer at Pepper Hamilton, a firm partner meeting was held on Monday that announced the discussions, with firm leadership telling partners that the executive committee unanimously approved the talks.

Should the two firms move forward to completion, Reed Smith, which has 1,600 lawyers in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, would acquire Pepper Hamilton’s 490 lawyers scattered across 13 US offices. Reed Smith’s reported $1.12bn in revenue for 2015 combined with Pepper Hamilton’s $388.5m would make the merged firm one of the 25 largest US law firms by revenue, according to last year’s rankings in The American Lawyer.

Source: Bloomberg BNA