Joseph E. Tilson
Joseph E. Tilson
Bruce R. Meckler
Bruce R. Meckler
Michael J. Heller
Michael J. Heller

Another local law firm has decided that Chicago is not enough.

The well-connected labor and employment firm Meckler, Bulger, Tilson, Marick & Pearson LLP said today it will join the 575-lawyer Cozen, O'Connor LLP on June 1.

MBT's partners approved the merger on Tuesday, and Cozen, O'Connor's yes vote came Wednesday. That cleared the way for a local office that has national clients to team up with a firm that has outposts in 23 cities including London and Toronto.

Leaders from the two firms said the deal was driven by MBT's desire to serve its national clients with local lawyers in more practice areas and Cozen, O'Connor's interest in expanding its 15-lawyer local office. In addition, the firms feature similar practice strengths and billing rates in insurance litigation defense and labor and employment.

The combined firm will maintain the Cozen, O'Connor name and have 60 lawyers here. Some insurance coverage lawyers from MBT declined to join Cozen, O'Connor.

Kay Hoppe, president of legal recruiting and consulting firm Credentia Inc., said it was a coup for Cozen, O'Connor to add a group of lawyers who are well-respected and well-entrenched in the city's legal environment, particularly Richard A. Devine, the former Cook County state's attorney for 12 years who now handles white-collar criminal matters and investigations.

"One of the challenges that law firms coming into Chicago very often have is becoming part of the core city," Hoppe said. "The thing that intrigued me about this particular deal was (Cozen, O'Connor was) really able to get that accomplished in a very impressive way."

MBT Co-Chair Bruce R. Meckler said the firms began talking "casually" about a year ago and that he became convinced about the merger about two months ago.

"Clearly the future is for law firms to have much larger national footprints," said Meckler, who brings with him a nationally known practice that helps businesses analyze attorney fees.

"It's a very difficult market out there for medium-sized firms, and our clients want us to have access to markets across the country and a variety of practice areas."

In similar moves, Ungaretti & Harris LLP's 100 lawyers here joined with 600-lawyer Nixon, Peabody LLP this year; last year, Shefsky & Froelich was folded into Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP, which has more than 400 lawyers across the country.

Cozen, O'Connor opened its Chicago office in 2000.

Its 15 lawyers at 333 W. Wacker Drive are expected to move within 60 days to MBT's space at 123 N. Wacker.

Tia Christine Ghattas, Cozen, O'Connor's local managing partner, will become co-managing partner of the Chicago office.

Meckler will become vice chair of the firm's commercial litigation department. Joseph E. Tilson, the current co-chair of MBT, will serve as co-chair of the labor and employment department.

Both Meckler and Tilson will serve on Cozen, O'Connor's management committee and national board of directors.

Having spent the past five-plus years bolstering its East Coast presence with a series of 20-plus-lawyer additions, Cozen, O'Connor President and CEO Michael J. Heller said the firm planned to begin rolling westward starting with Chicago.

In 2009, Cozen, O'Connor added about 60 lawyers in New York and Philadelphia from the dissolving Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen LLP. The next year, the firm snapped up 15 lawyers in Washington, D.C., from Sher & Blackwell. And it added 19 intellectual property lawyers from New York's Cohen, Pontani, Lieberman & Pavane LLP in 2011.

The firm now has about 200 lawyers in Philadelphia, 100 in New York and 50 in Washington, D.C.

"These deals are harder to accomplish because it's just harder to find these types of firms," Heller said. "But the integration of them within the firm is better and easier when they have significant reputations in the market, which frankly gives us an easier entree to continue to expand in that market."

Tilson said the compatibility of the firm's billing rates was a large reason "why the deal works." He said the firm does not anticipate having to raise its rates "at all."

He said the move combines his practice with 36 labor and employment lawyers in various cities, which would allow his team to better service what he called a "substantial" number of coast-to-coast clients and build the practice.

"We currently have a national practice, but we spend an awful lot of time on airplanes," Tilson said. "This firm is very committed to growing the labor and employment law practice on a national scale."

Heller said the firm is also committed to further growth in Chicago.

"The next step is to continue to build out the transactional and the IP practices," Heller said. "We want Chicago to be a very large office for us. We think it's a great market, and we're excited that we're able to start with this platform."

He added: "Chicago is a market where we should be 100 or larger."