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Troutman Sanders to merge with law firm in District

Troutman Sanders LLP will merge with a Washington-based firm on Jan. 1 in a transaction that will expand the critical mass in the Atlanta firm’s D.C. office and provide a presence in the Midwest and on the West Coast.

Troutman Chairman Robert W. Webb Jr. said the merger with Ross, Dixon & Bell LLP “is very important to our national footprint” because the firm now has no offices in Chicago or the West Coast.

About half of Ross Dixon’s 100 lawyers are in Washington, and the rest are in Chicago and in California in San Diego and Irvine.
Ross Dixon has a national reputation for its insurance practice related to corporate officers and directors and to mass tort and environmental matters, Webb said. It also has a substantial real estate and real estate finance practice in San Diego that focuses on the hospitality industry and golf.

The firm has limited transactional capabilities, however, and Webb said Troutman hopes to exploit its depth in real estate and finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and other general corporate work in the expansion of the Ross Dixon offices.

David Gische, Ross Dixon’s managing partner, said, “We see tremendous opportunities in our core insurance and commercial litigation practices and the potential for rapid expansion of our existing transactional work by combining with Troutman Sanders’ strengths in those areas.”

Gische and Mike Whitton of Ross Dixon’s San Diego office will join Troutman Sanders’ executive committee. Kevin C. Fitzgerald, the managing partner of Troutman’s Washington office, will head the combined D.C. office of the two firms. The firms will practice under the Troutman Sanders name.

Webb said the merger “continues Troutman Sanders’ strategy of expanding into new markets where we are needed by existing clients and see the potential for considerable future growth.”

The firm has a substantial amount of work on the West Coast but needed a platform there to expand its activities, he said.
Troutman Sanders has about 650 lawyers, more than 175 of them in four offices in Virginia as a result of its merger with the Mays & Valentine firm in 2001.

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