Where Mid-Atlantic meets New England
In July 1999 Rochester, NY-based Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle (Est. 1875) announced its merger with Beantown's Peabody & Brown (Est. 1854). The resulting entity, Nixon Peabody, vaulted itself into the ranks of the nation's largest firms, with 450 lawyers practicing across 15 substantive areas. At the time its announcement, industry observers held up the merger as a model of fit. In comments to the National Law Journal, one consultant advising on the merger reminisced, "It was kind of a shot in dark, but the more we started to talk, the more synergies there were." Concretely, the uniting of the two brings together Nixon's renowned (and busy) public finance practice, and Peabody traditional strengths in real estate.
Nixon in Washington
Another happy result of the merger was the consolidation of the two firms' DC practices. Industry watchers noted that the new office would rival out-of-state DC powerhouses such as LA's O'Melveny & Myers and New York's LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae. DC names to note include partners Bruce Lane (real estate), Charles Edson (real estate), and William Causey (litigation).
