Two firms combine, create large Buffalo office

The law partnerships of Bond, Schoeneck and King PLLC and Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel LLP voted Wednesday to combine, creating a 51-lawyer Bond office in Buffalo.

The new office will expand available services, better position Bond to meet the legal needs of a growing Buffalo and Western New York economy and place Bond among the largest firms in each of the four major upstate markets, according to a release.

The combination will be effective Jan. 1 and will practice under the name of Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC.

The announcement culminates several months of discussions between the firms, spurred by compatible strategic objectives to better serve existing clients and deepen and broaden the scope of their practice areas for clients representing a wider range of industries.

Based on the January 2015 rankings in Buffalo Business First, this combination places the Buffalo office of Bond as the fourth largest firm in Western New York. Buffalo would also become the second largest office for Bond, which has nine offices in New York state — including Rochester, Syracuse and Albany.

“With Bond having been in Buffalo for nearly 20 years, we are truly excited about participating in the region’s resurgence and fulfilling our strategic objective of developing a full-service office in Western New York by combining with such a highly regarded, talented and venerable firm as Jaeckle Fleishmann & Mugel,” said Richard Hole, chairman of Bond’s Management Committee.

“The addition of their lawyers will enable us to provide a full range of services from the firm’s Buffalo office, further strengthen our capacity to provide services to our clients in all our markets, and help us to attract new clients seeking an array of high quality, reasonably priced legal services that are capable of being delivered anywhere in the state,” he said.

Joseph Kubarek, Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel managing partner, said the combined practices and industry-specific expertise of both firms will be very attractive for current and future clients desiring full-service capabilities from their law firm.

“We complement each other in labor and employment law, litigation and employee benefits and by combining, we will enhance Bond’s impressive capabilities in these areas not only in Buffalo but across New York state,” he said. “Moreover, Bond’s considerable experience and deep teams in healthcare, higher education, intellectual property, public finance and corporate restructuring will be major assets to our hospitality and tourism, advanced manufacturing, municipal, healthcare, and higher education clients.”

Bond Buffalo will be in Jaeckle’s office space in the Avant building. Bond’s Buffalo office is currently at Fountain Plaza.

According to recent published rankings, after the combination is effective, Bond, Schoeneck & King will have 265 lawyers, which would rank the firm in the top 170 nationally and top 35 statewide among law firms based on attorney population.