Two major Southern law firms are merging.
The attorneys leading both Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and South Carolina-based Nexsen Pruet said their similar philosophies and a trend toward companies wanting to deal with bigger law firms led them to combine.
Nexsen Pruet Chairman Leighton Lord will be the President and Chief Strategy Officer for the new Maynard Nexsen firm.
Jeff Grantham, who is managing shareholder of Maynard Cooper & Gale, will serve as the new firm’s CEO, the combined company announced Thursday.
Grantham and Lord met while at law school at Vanderbilt University and each said they admired the other’s law firm from afar.
Each firm had several offices in fast growing regions.
The new firm will have about 550 attorneys and 23 offices in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.
