SYRACUSE — On Jan. 1, the Manhattan–based law firm of Kehl, Katzive & Simon, LLP joined Syracuse–based Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC. On Feb. 1, the Long Island–based law firm of Kennedy & Gillen will also join Bond. Bond, Schoeneck & King currently has 15 lawyers in its New York City office on Madison Avenue. […]
SYRACUSE — On Jan. 1, the Manhattan–based law firm of Kehl, Katzive & Simon, LLP joined Syracuse–based Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC. On Feb. 1, the Long Island–based law firm of Kennedy & Gillen will also join Bond.
Bond, Schoeneck & King currently has 15 lawyers in its New York City office on Madison Avenue. The addition of Kehl will bring the office to 22 attorneys. The expansion necessitates a move to new quarters, now scheduled for April 1. “We are moving our New York office to Third Avenue and doubling the space we currently have,” says Richard D. Hole, chairman of Bond’s management committee. “We will not extend the current Kehl lease when it expires.”
The forthcoming inclusion of the Kennedy firm will boost the current Garden City office of Bond from 11 to 14 attorneys. Hole says that the Long Island office is also planning to double its existing space and not continue Kennedy’s current lease.
Mergers and acquisitions of law firms typically allow them to broaden practice areas, deepen the strength of client teams, and expand the firm’s capabilities in targeted industries or geographical sectors. “These two moves do all three,” says Hole. “Kehl strengthens our labor/employment, employee-benefits, and litigation practices. For more than three decades, the Kehl firm has provided its services primarily to colleges and universities, public and private schools, and not-for-profit organizations. They have built their firm and established long-standing relationships with their clients based on the same values that Bond espouses.”
Three of the seven attorneys are now partners in Bond, Schoeneck & King.
What expertise will the Kennedy & Gillen firm bring Bond?
“The Kennedy firm is a general civil-practice firm,” says Hole. “Their focus is on real-estate and supermarket law. Their clientele is varied and includes a major Long Island supermarket chain, one of the country’s largest REITS, real-estate developers, residential cooperative corporations, and insurance companies. The firm also provides employment law, litigation, business, and estate-planning services.” Both Kennedy and Gillen will join Bond, Schoeneck & King as partners.
The two New York City–area firms strengthen several of Bond’s practices. As the largest law firm headquartered in Syracuse (ranked by number of local attorneys), Bond has more than three dozen higher-education clients, represents more than 40 school districts across the Empire State, and serves nearly 200 not-for-profit organizations.
The two combinations also fit Bond’s strategy.
“These moves support our strategic plan,” notes Hole. “We’re a regional firm with a New York state footprint of nine offices that stretches from Buffalo to Garden City and includes Albany, Ithaca, New York City, Oswego, Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica. We also maintain offices in Naples, Fla. and Overland Park, Kansas. The [New York City] metro area offers us a huge opportunity for growth. We needed more boots on the ground in the metro area to be a full-service firm in that region of the state.”
The merger process
Bond, Schoeneck & King has a mergers and acquisition team that is looking for opportunities.
“We are proactive in this regard,” says Hole. “But timing is everything. We knew the principals of both firms and had discussions with Kennedy & Gillen for about a year. The negotiations with Kehl only took a few months. It was obvious in both cases that the acquisition would help to grow Bond and deepen our resources. It was also important that these two firms have a good, cultural fit with us.”
Hole would not share any financial terms or other details of the acquisitions other than to say that the two firms would cease operating independently and join Bond, Schoeneck & King.
Typically, the term “acquisition” applied to bringing in experienced lawyers or an entire firm involves no cash. All parties are considered to be contributing an equal amount of value on a pro-rata basis. In addition to the “acquired” human capital, the acquiring firm may get some assets and work-in-progress, plus good will. There is no yardstick, such as a multiple of EBITDA, to measure the value of these deals.
On Feb.1, Bond, Schoeneck & King will have 225 attorneys, of whom 112 are in Central New York. On that date, the total employee count will reach 440, with 267 working in this region, and the number of partners will total 134.
The law firm does not disclose annual revenue. The Syracuse headquarters occupies nearly 100,000 square feet in the Chase Tower. The original partnership was established in 1897.
Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com