Jesse Ruiz '95 Discusses 2007 Drinker Biddle Merger with Chicago Lawyer Magazine

From Chicago Lawyer:

Like many law firm mergers before and since, the 2007 pairing of Drinker Biddle & Reath with Gardner Carton & Douglas was meant to propel two regional firms onto the national stage.
The linking of 445 lawyers from the 158-year-old, Philadelphia-based Drinker Biddle with 200 practitioners at Chicago’s 97-year-old Gardner Carton was one of 60 U.S. mergers in 2007....
Jesse Ruiz, a corporate and securities partner at Drinker Biddle who is also the firm’s marketing partner, had only been a Gardner Carton partner for a short time when the firms merged in 2007. He had just begun locally representing a national retailer and he recounted a conversation with that client’s general counsel.
“He (said), ‘Well, there’s going to be pressure for you to grow what you do for us all over the entire country. I can’t make you any guarantees. We’ll be open to it, but I can’t bank on it,’” Ruiz said. “Seven years later, that has come to be. And I’m thrilled. And I think we’ve earned it. And I’m glad we did.”

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