denotes premium content | Oct 11 2008 
News
posted 22 Jul 2008
K&L Gates and Kennedy Covington seal deal
KIRKPATRICK & LOCKHART Preston Gates Ellis LLP (K&L Gates) and Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, LLP (Kennedy Covington) are to merge, effective as of 1 July 2008, following a vote at both partnerships.
Discussions between the firms began in late 2007, where the attraction cited by both was the “diverse business community” on offer in North and South Carolina. Kennedy Covington has offices in Charlotte, Research Triangle Park, Columbia and Rock Hill in the region. Charlotte is the second largest financial centre in the US, while further synergies include sectors such as corporate, life sciences and real estate.
“Our combined firm is now positioned to serve as the Carolinas’ legal bridge to the globalized economy of the 21st Century,” said K&L Gates chairman and global managing partner Peter J. Kalis and Kennedy Covington managing partner Eugene C. Pridgen, in a joint statement.
The addition of Kennedy Covington’s approximately 175 lawyers takes the combined firm’s total to 1,700 across 28 offices – in Europe, the US and Asia.
K&L Gates also has bases in Boston, Berlin, Beijing, London, Los Angeles, New York. Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Taipei and Washington, D.C, among other cities. In April 2008 a second Chinese office was opened in Shanghai.
