St. Louis firm Thompson Coburn is entering the Chicago market through its merger with FagelHaber. This merger is one of the biggest to be initiated by a St. Louis firm in several years; the combined firm will have over 330 lawyers. Thompson Coburn has been looking to break into Chicago for a while, though even without an office there the firm still has been making $4 to 5 million of work a year. The two firms seem compatible for a merger because they charge similar rates for work, and they both focus on large privately held companies and mid-sized public companies. Thompson Coburn’s practice focuses on litigation and corporate work, while FagelHaber mainly deals with corporate work, especially M&A, financial and real estate areas.
Source: www.stltoday.com

Reed Smith has added Frederick Branding to its Chicago Health Care Practice. Branding joins as a partner from the Chicago office of McGuire Woods. He is trained as a registered pharmacist and has practiced law for over 30 years. Branding’s work has focused on counseling and advising medical products companies on FDA regulatory issues, as well as providing civil and criminal defense counsel to companies and individuals facing government enforcement actions. Prior to working at McGuire Woods, Branding served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. Founded in 1877, 1,500-lawyer Reed Smith is one of the 15 largest law firms in the world.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

Atlanta firm Carter & Ansley has joined with North Carolina firm Smith Moore. Thirteen lawyers from Carter & Ansley will join Smith Moore’s Atlanta office, putting its numbers up to 23 in that office. Carter & Ansley’s main practice is representing life, health and disability insurance companies in litigation. The firm represents between 50 and 75 life insurance companies in Georgia and sometimes other states. Smith Moore’s Atlanta branch focuses on health law and litigation. The merger will allow the firms’ lawyers to develop the insurance litigation practice in North Carolina. Smith Moore now has 128 attorneys firmwide, and offices in Atlanta, Greensboro, Raleigh, Wilmington, and Charlotte.
Source: www.law.com