Southern law firms combine to create coast-to-coast offices
By JEFFREY COLLINS
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Two major Southern law firms are merging into one firm that will have offices on both coasts and more than 550 attorneys. The attorneys leading both Alabama-based Maynard Cooper & Gale and South Carolina-based Nexsen Pruet say 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 is now managing shareholder of Maynard Cooper & Gale. He will serve as the new firm’s CEO. Grantham and Lord met while at law school at Vanderbilt University and each admired the other’s law firm from afar.