Venable and Dickinson Wright Expand into Chicago
The two Big Law firms’ new office acquisitions signal greater confidence after dire predictions earlier in the year.
Two Big Law firms announced the opening of new offices in Chicago on Tuesday, representing a significant growth of the city’s legal market.
Venable, an AmLaw 100 firm employing more than 730 lawyers, acquired a construction practice of 12 lawyers from Schiff Hardin. Six of these lawyers – three associates and three partners – are located in Chicago, while another six have joined Venable’s offices in New York and Washington, DC. The practice is well known and highly regarded for representing owners and government entities in large infrastructure projecs.
The office is located in the Franklin Center and is the 10th office Venable has opened.
Meanwhile, Detroit-based Dickinson Wright announced that it had acquired Chicago law firm Stahl Cowen Crowley Addis LLC, adding a further 12 attorneys to its existing staff of nearly 500 lawyers and gaining its 19th office. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Dickinson Wright’s entry into the major money market of Chicago is a natural progression of our national strategic approach,” Dickinson Wright CEO Michael Hammer said in a statement. “We look forward to joining the Chicago business community while continuing to expand our offerings to our clients from around the US.”
The new office will be led by Jeffrey Stahl, a partner at the Chicago firm. The office will handle real estate, employment, corporate, litigation and M&A in addition to restructuring and arbitration matters.
The acquisitions come at the same time as a Tuesday report by Citi Private Bank and Hildebrandt Consulting which found that fears of crushing losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic were largely exaggerated.
