Law firm reports smooth transition

|tab|

It's been a little more than four months since the local law firm Miller & Sanford merged with the Kansas City law firm of Lathrop & Gage, but both parties seem pleased with the way things are going.|ret||ret||tab|

Attorney Frank Evans is the managing member of the Springfield office of Lathrop & Gage, which now has a total of 15 attorneys. Lathrop & Gage also has offices in Overland Park, St. Louis, Jefferson City and Washington D.C., and the firm collectively has more than 200 attorneys.|ret||ret||tab|

Prior to the merger, which went into effect Jan. 1, Evans was managing partner of Miller & Sanford, which had a 57-year history in Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

Evans said, as a whole, the merger has gone smoothly. "Obviously, when you have a merger like this, in merging information systems and overall operating processes, it takes some effort," he said. "The Lathrop & Gage firm had been through mergers before and had a well-developed plan to make much of the merger go smoothly overall, more smoothly than I'd anticipated going in."|ret||ret||tab|

Tom Stewart, managing partner for the entire firm of Lathrop & Gage, said the merger also exceeded his and the firm's expectations. Besides the assimilation of the different systems involved, he said, the merger also has gone well from a marketing standpoint. |ret||ret||tab|

Because Lathrop & Gage had an office in Springfield prior to the merger, the firm already had several clients in the area, including the city of Springfield, Bank of America, Baird, Kurtz & Dobson, Mid-America Dairy and some area hospitals.|ret||ret||tab|

"We'd had our eye on the Springfield market for some time and felt like there was some tremendous potential for us to expand the work we do for our existing client base, and then also provide areas of specialties and expertise to existing clients in Springfield," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Evans said he isn't aware of any problems for clients as a result of the merger, probably, he said, because Miller & Sanford worked hard to keep clients informed about the merger process.|ret||ret||tab|

"I can tell you that all of the comments from clients have been very positive in terms of the additional services the firm has as Lathrop & Gage," Evans said.|ret||ret||tab|

"We can bring in people with highly specialized expertise in several areas of law, which is one advantage we have as Lathrop & Gage. We could not have brought those resources to bear as Miller & Sanford," Evans said. That was a big part of why Miller & Sanford agreed to the merger, he added. |ret||ret||tab|

Stewart said another important factor in the merger's success is that the cultures of the two firms fit together well.|ret||ret||tab|

"You don't want a firm that has a different personality merging, because the merging of cultures is very difficult," Stewart said. "It's just worked out great both from a personality standpoint, and it makes communication and everything just a lot better."|ret||ret||tab|

Evans said the clientele of the Lathrop & Gage Springfield office has grown in two ways since the merger. First, he said, there are additional services available for clients, and second, there are more clients.|ret||ret||tab|

Evans said Lathrop & Gage has continued, and expanded, the role filled by Miller & Sanford in the community, and in the future, the firm hopes to add to the services it provides, including informational and educational seminars, such as its Internet law seminar last month, and its upcoming labor employment law seminar May 18. [[In-content Ad]]