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WASHINGTON – The former head of DLA Piper’s Washington office, Ted Segal, knows a good investment when he sees one. He earned his reputation – and his distinction as a Legal Times Top 10 Dealmaker – helping clients like The Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation and McCormick & Company, Inc. obtain the greatest value in their most critical business transactions. Lately, he has turned his eye for value to those clients’ legal services and has found he could do better there as well. After 25 years with one of the nation’s largest law firms, Segal has announced he has joined Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP as chair of its Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group. “I’ve found an absolute gem,” says Segal. “I’ve been listening hard to my clients and, in order to better meet their needs, there was no way to pass up this opportunity.”

Segal will practice from Stradley Ronon’s Washington office, continuing to focus on $20 million to $1 billion mergers and acquisitions, equity financings, venture capital transactions, domestic and international joint ventures, and corporate restructurings and reorganizations. He also will provide general corporate counsel to large institutional clients and closely held businesses.

The impetus for the move to Stradley Ronon, Segal notes, came via an epiphany he had while having lunch with a Fortune 500 client. The client talked about its keen interest in finding a top-quality local or regional firm with lower overhead that could provide superior service but at lower billing rates. “A light bulb went off,” says Segal, who began wondering, given the evolving marketplace for legal services, whether a global “mega-firm” was really the optimal institutional platform from which to serve his clients.

Throughout a due-diligence process as rigorous as he would advise for clients contemplating a merger, Segal found in Stradley Ronon a combination of attributes increasingly rare among modern firms, yet increasingly desired by sophisticated clientele:

• cost-efficient service difficult to provide at today’s mega firms, which will allow Segal to touch more aspects of his clients’ vital transactional work; 
• a firm culture committed to developing and retaining talented, pragmatic lawyers, thereby facilitating continuity in client service; 
• a carefully managed geographic footprint and an overhead cost structure which allow its attorneys to partner with clients to help them manage their legal costs; and 
• a depth of quality that extends from the firm’s leadership throughout the entire 200-lawyer firm, embodied by young partners like Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group Vice Chair, Deborah Hong, recently named a Legal Intelligencer “Lawyer on the Fast Track.”

For its part, Stradley Ronon sees in Segal an attorney of recognized excellence who will:

• drive the firm’s strategic vision of expanding its growing mid-market M&A practice in the mid-Atlantic region and beyond; 
• use his deep transactional experience in the health care arena as an ideal enhancement to Stradley’s health care practice in a rapidly consolidating industry;
• enhance the firm’s profile in the corporate community, where it already has thousands of client relationships going back 20 years and longer; and 
• add corporate and transactional capabilities to the firm’s D.C. office to complement existing strong resources in investment management and securities enforcement.

Commentary

William Sasso, Chairman of Stradley Ronon:

• “We have been very selective in the lateral market, and we have refused the many offers we have received to merge with larger firms. Our growth strategy is not about size; it is about the focused recruitment and retention of quality lawyers with the industry-specific expertise needed by our clients. Ted is exactly the type of lateral partner who fits perfectly with Stradley Ronon’s strategic objectives and the needs of our clients.” 
• “Ted brings years of experience working with national and international corporations, both as a dealmaker and as outside counsel, which will be invaluable to our clients. Bringing him on board will not only serve as a catalyst to extend our capabilities in the mid-Atlantic, mid-market arena, but will enable us to recruit talented lawyers in related fields as well.”

Ted Segal, new partner and chair of the M&A Practice Group at Stradley Ronon: 

• “I was perfectly happy elsewhere for more than 25 years, but what I learned about Stradley Ronon’s capabilities blew me away. The value and quality of service I can provide here is unmatched, and I have the opportunity to help the firm drive its M&A practice and brand forward which is truly exciting for me.” 
• “Between observing changes in the marketplace for legal services and receiving feedback from clients, I realized that Stradley Ronon – with its focused geographic footprint, top quality lawyers and strong culture – would be an ideal platform from which to serve my clients.” 
• “Stradley’s unwavering commitment to its core values – quality, responsiveness, passion and value – in the face of tumultuous change in the legal marketplace over the past 15 years put it in a powerful position when it comes to attracting exceptional talent.”

Other colleagues: 

• “Ted will be a driver of the expansion of our mid-Atlantic, mid-market M&A practice. We look forward to seeing our transactional practice grow significantly under his leadership.” – Kevin Boyle, Business Practice Group Chair at Stradley Ronon 
• “With the addition of Ted to our growing D.C. office, we will further capitalize on what we regard as the secret of Stradley Ronon’s success – the creation of lasting partnerships between first-rate lawyers and first-rate clients to achieve excellent results at great value.” – Larry Stadulis, Managing Partner, Stradley Ronon’s Washington office 
• “With almost 50 lawyers at Stradley Ronon devoted full time to serving our investment management clients across the United States and in Europe, Ted’s transactional expertise will add further depth and invaluable support to their business and legal needs.” – Bruce Leto, Investment Management Group Chair at Stradley Ronon

At DLA Piper, Segal was a member of the Corporate, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Health Care Practice Groups and was a member of the firm’s policy committee. He also holds an appointment as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. At Stradley Ronon, he will be a member of the five-partner strategic planning committee.

Stradley Ronon’s Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group advises buyers, sellers, special committees, investment bankers, and public and private companies on merger and acquisition transactions. The group structures and manages complex transactions, including leveraged buyouts and strategic acquisitions, from inception through negotiation and drafting, and also performs all of the tax, corporate and securities aspects of acquisition and merger agreements.

About Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young – www.stradley.com

Counseling clients since 1926, Stradley Ronon has helped private and public companies – from small businesses to Fortune 500 corporations – achieve their goals. With six offices and more than 195 attorneys located throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Stradley Ronon is the only eastern Pennsylvania member of Meritas, the world’s largest affiliation of independent commercial law firms.