On The Move
Womble Carlyle Votes To Merge With Charleston’s Buist Moore
Apr 14, 2011
WINSTON SALEM, N.C.—Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC announced that its lawyers have voted to merge with the 44-lawyer Charleston, S.C., law firm Buist Moore Smythe McGee, P.A., creating the largest law firm in both North and South Carolina.
The addition of Buist Moore’s attorneys will expand Womble Carlyle to a 550-attorney firm. The merger will be effective April 30th.
“We are in the business of helping our clients succeed,” said Keith Vaughan, Chairman of Womble Carlyle’s Firm Management Committee. “When our clients succeed, we succeed. The combining of Buist Moore and Womble Carlyle will provide Womble Carlyle clients access to a wider network of strategically important relationships. Charleston has emerged as a high-growth area within the pro-business state of South Carolina. Our clients will benefit greatly from the key relationships and access within Charleston’s market that Buist Moore’s experienced, highly regarded lawyers bring.”
The merger with Buist Moore gives Womble Carlyle attorneys and clients a list of varied benefits, including access to the specialty experience in Buist Moore’s Admiralty and Maritime practice area, a strong position to serve the currently underway expansion of the Panama Canal, and additional critical mass in South Carolina. Specifically, with the addition of a Charleston office, Womble Carlyle’s Greenville, S.C., office is poised to expand its in-state geographic network and footprint in which it can directly assist clients.
“Buist
Moore has been a bedrock business law firm within the Charleston market
for years, and now the merger with Womble Carlyle gives our talented
attorneys a much broader platform to serve our clients,” said Henry
Smythe, Buist Moore Managing Partner (pictured left). ”The
existing synergies between our core practice areas and those of Womble
Carlyle provide opportunities to expand client relationships within the
Southeast region and beyond. Womble Carlyle currently has offices from
Atlanta to Delaware and is a prominent law firm within that region. The
opportunities for Buist Moore attorneys to serve clients regionally,
nationally and globally will increase significantly.”Current Buist Moore attorneys will continue to practice from their Charleston location at 5 Exchange Street once the merger goes into effect.
Charleston has emerged as a high-growth area within the Southeast with the pending servicing of Southwest Airlines from its airport, the arrival of Boeing’s manufacturing hub, and an expansion of Panama Canal that will double its capacity. Womble Carlyle clients who import/export or have other transnational aspirations will have access to the multinational activity that results from Charleston’s enhanced standing as a critical transportation hub.
