Washington telecom boutique Fleischman and Harding has merged with Boston-based Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.
Fleischman's 12 lawyers, whose clients include Cable One, CW Network and Time Warner Cable, bump Edwards Angell's D.C. headcount from 8 to 19 (one Fleishman lawyer is joining the Newport Beach, Calif., office). Firm-wide, Edwards Angell has 535 lawyers in 11 offices in the United States and two abroad.
“It was a hand-in-glove type fit,” said Gregory Young, partner in charge of Edwards Angell’s Washington office, who said the Fleishman lawyers’ regulatory expertise will complement the firm’s work for communications industry clients.
“We never had the regulatory piece as an arrow in our quiver,” he said. “It ties in nicely with the rest of our practice.”
For Fleischman and Harding, the merger offered “a bigger platform,” said senior partner Aaron Fleischman. “We realized we really couldn’t grow. We were unable to hire the kinds of lawyers we wanted to hire.”
Fleishman (previously known as Fleischman and Walsh until name partner Charles Walsh retired in 2005) has seen its numbers fall - the firm reported 36 lawyers in a 2002 Legal Times survey, but later lost its FERC and legislative practices.
Edwards Angell lawyers in Washington will move into Fleischman’s existing office space within the next 45 days.
Edwards Angell has turned to mergers for growth in recent years. In 2005, Edwards & Angell merged with 180 lawyer Palmer & Dodge, and in 2008, it combined with 40-lawyer Kendall Freeman in London. Also, the firm added 15 patent lawyers and agents in 2000 when it merged with Dike, Bronstein, Roberts and Cushman.
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