Preston Gates becomes K&L Gates
Preston | Gates | Ellis of Seattle is now K&L Gates, a 1,400 megafirm after its merger with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. The size vaults the new firm into the top 10 of the National Law Journal 250 and its income puts it within the top 20 highest-grossing firms in the American Lawyer 100 with $750 in revenues.
Headquartered in Kirkpatrick's home office of Pittsburgh, K&L Gates has 22 offices located in North America, Europe and Asia (the newest office is in Berlin). Kirkpatrick & Lockhart was #45 on the AmLaw 100 list, and Preston Gates was #106.
Interestingly, the seven-person Executive Committee includes two women, one Asian American man, and one African American man, making it one of the most diverse governance bodies in law firms, according to Jeffrey J. Berardi, Chief Marketing Officer.
The firm will focus on the industries central to the global economy: technology, financial services, manufacturing, energy, transportation and life sciences.
Their new Web site at http://www.klgates.com/ is in German, Chinese and English. It's 3,378-word "Our Firm" page promotes the tech advantage of the firm, having won CIO Magazine's prestigious "CIO 100 Award" three times.
