Law Firm Mergers Among Canadian Law Firms: The Effect on Lawyer Retention

Before the turn of the 20th century the Canadian legal environment experienced a surge in mergers of local law firms to form law firms with a national presence. More recently, instances of law firm mergers once again increased, this time on an international basis. Notwithstanding these trends, the general effect of law firm mergers on lawyer retention is unknown. The aim of this research is to collect the data necessary to analyze whether law firm mergers had any impact on lawyer retention at merged law firms. Using a 20-year sample of data collected specifically for this research growth rates were calculated and compared for 28 instances of mergers. Analysis of the data reveals that while there were similar trends between law firms that did merge and those that did not, law firms that participated in mergers generally had smaller growth rates than those law firms that did not merge.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Management

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Graduate Studies

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Ho, Michael Oliver

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Beaulieu, Eugene
• Tingle, Bryce

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Mourali, Mehdi
• Whalley, Alexander

• Business Administration
• Economics--Labor
• Law

Statement dc:rights

• University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/26734

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ucalgary.scholaris.ca:11023/3323