Two major law firms to merge.

Law firms Nixon Peabody LLP and Lillick & Charles LLP announced the merger of their firms effective Aug. 1. Nixon Peabody has offices in 11 cities on the East Coast and is ranked among the top 60 firms in the United States by The National Law Journal. Lillick & Charles is a 70-attorney firm with offices in San Francisco and Orange County, Calif. The firm will change its name to Nixon Peabody LLP, and its California offices will be fully integrated with Nixon Peabody's other offices. The merger is expected to benefit the bi-coastal and international practices of both firms.

Nixon Peabody represents many California-based clients and clients with activities on the West Coast, so the merger establishes a better base from which to serve them. The firm serves clients on the West Coast in the areas of venture capital, energy development, public finance, the wine industry, syndication and housing finance. It also represents a number of Fortune 100 companies with extensive California operations.

The merger enables Lillick & Charles to provide both West Coast, East Coast and international clients with the resources of a 500-attorney, multi-practice law firm. It also gives the firm a better base from which to serve its clients, many of whom have extensive activities on the East Coast. These include major financial institutions in the banking, trust and insurance industries and a corporate client base, with complex legal matters in the areas of commercial litigation, international trade and transportation, aviation, hospitality and equipment finance.

Nixon Peabody's co-managing partners, Harry P. Trueheart, III and Nestor M. Nicholas said Lillick & Charles is a high-quality, mid-size law firm in California with a diversified practice and a sophisticated base of business, transactional, finance and litigation clients. "This makes them an ideal partner for us in California," said Trueheart. "We decided that the best way to serve our clients on the West Coast was to have a presence there through a merger." Nicholas added that the cultures of the two firms were also a good mix. "Our cultures are very compatible, and we expect a smooth transition."

The law firms also share a similar vision of the future, according to the managing partner of Lillick & Charles, John M. Rosenthal. "In the next five years, the strongest competitors in the legal marketplace will be large national firms that are able to serve businesses with a full array of services in most of the nation's major business and technology centers," he said. "To be a credible player in this market, law firms must serve and have a presence in those centers, and that's what this merger accomplishes for and our clients."