After a steady decline of its partnership, US firm Dickstein Shapiro has dissolved and ceased from practicing law after 65 years, with most of its lawyers moving to Blank Rome.
The acquisition will see more than 100 lawyers and additional staff from Dickstein Shapiro’s New York and Washington DC offices join Blank Rome to create a 620-lawyer firm across 14 offices.
The move will triple the size of the Washington office, adding 90 lawyers, and see Blank Rome’s lawyers move to Dickstein Shapiro’s office at 1825 Eye Street NW. In New York, 13 lawyers will be added to Blank Rome’s ranks.
Dickstein Shapiro’s government contracts team will become a new practice group at Blank Rome, led by partner David Nadler, which will represent federal, state, and local government contractors across several sectors.
Partner James Murray will lead the firm’s insurance practice – another new practice for Blank Rome – alongside IP, litigation, corporate and finance lawyers adding to Blank Rome’s bench.
Alan Hoffman will continue his role as chairman and managing partner of Blank Rome, while the former chairman of Dickstein Shapiro James Kelly will become the new chairman of Blank Rome’s Washington DC office.
Hoffman said the takeover was ‘in line with [the firm’s] current strategic plan [and] is the latest in a series of targeted lateral hires, acquisitions and combinations’.
The announcement comes after a series of defections from Dickstein Shapiro, which saw lawyer headcount drop from around 350 lawyers a few years ago to less than 120.
jaishree.kalia@legalease.co.uk
