Leighton Lord and Jeff Grantham, both 1989 graduates of Vanderbilt Law School, have announced a major firm merger of Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and South Carolina-based Nexsen Pruet. The new firm, Maynard Nexsen, will have approximately 550 attorneys based in 23 offices in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.
Lord, who is chair of Nexsen Pruet, will serve as the new firm’s president and chief strategy officer, and Grantham, who is managing shareholder of Maynard Cooper & Gale, will serve as its chief executive officer.
Read the Associated Press announcement of the merger
Grantham and Lord met as classmates at Vanderbilt Law School, and each said they admired the law firm headed by the other from afar. They began meeting regularly to discuss their businesses several years ago, and the merger talk grew from there.
The attorneys said their similar philosophies and a trend toward companies wanting to deal with bigger law firms led them to combine.
“More and more clients are asking for fewer law firms in their roster,” Lord told The Associated Press.
“The ability to have a bigger bench and a bigger team allows you to be able to handle bigger matters,” Grantham said.
Maynard Cooper & Gale handles financial services litigation and internet services laws from offices located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Texas and California.
Nexsen Pruet handles construction, labor, legislative and international business cases from its base along the southern East Coast.
The new firm will have approximately 550 attorneys based in 23 offices in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C.