The consolidation within the US legal midmarket continued with the announcement that an East Coast-based 400-lawyer firm called Day Pitney would be created out of a merger between Connecticut-headquartered Day Berry & Howard and New Jersey firm Pitney Hardin.

The news came the day after it was revealed that Pinsent Masons‘ US ally, Thelen Reid & Priest, would merge with New York firm Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner.

The Day Berry and Pitney Hardin merger will give the new firm nine offices on the East Coast, including New York and Washington DC.

Day Berry, the largest firm in Connecticut, is the bigger of the two parties, with over 100 equity partners on an average PEP of $515,000 (£271,000). It is particularly known for its litigation and IT/IP capability and has a turnover of $113m (£59.4m).

Pitney Hardin, meanwhile, currently has 170 lawyers and just two offices in New Jersey and New York. It has a heavier offering in corporate/M&A and employment law.

In a statement, Pitney Hardin’s managing partner Dennis LaFiura said: “As a joint entity, we will have a deeper legal expertise and broader geographic reach to work with our clients more efficiently and on a greater scale.”

Day Berry’s chairman Jim Sicilian said that “merging with Pitney Hardin was
a natural choice. We share the goal of expanding our capabilities in the Northeast market, including New York.”