The combination expands the firm’s Northeast footprint and brings its total headcount to more than 300.
Harris Beach Murtha is combining with Boston-based Peabody & Arnold in a move that the law firm says will strengthen its Northeast presence and expand its capabilities.
HBM currently has 19 attorneys in its existing Boston office. The combination will add 39 more, and bring the firm’s total headcount to more than 300 across New England and New York.
It marks the latest move in Harris Beach Murtha’s growth strategy, following the combination of New York-based Harris Beach with Hartford’s Murtha Cullina at the beginning of 2025.
HBM says it has been in talks with Peabody & Arnold for a year.
Harris Beach Murtha CEO Chris Jagel said the addition of the Boston firm brings new capabilities including transactional and management liability coverage practices, insurance coverage litigation and professional liability defense.
It also strengthens the firm’s services in labor and employment, medical and life sciences, healthcare and long-term care, business litigation, and product liability and mass torts.
“We think that Boston is going to continue to be really a hub of growth and development over time,” Jagel told the Hartford Business Journal.
Peabody & Arnold said it had been looking for a partner to expand the firm’s practice areas.
“We've always handled cases all around New England, New York, but from time to time clients would rather have people with boots on the ground,” said Managing Partner Chris Parady. “Sometimes they want someone that's based in Hartford or based in Stamford or whatever the case may be.”
Jagel says that HBM will continue to be in growth mode.
“It would not surprise me to see us continue to expand,” he said. “We have no particular targets, but logically to head down the Mid-Atlantic would probably make sense.”
He said the firm is also looking for lateral hires in its Connecticut offices and elsewhere. HBM has offices in Hartford, New Haven, Stamford and Bantam.
Harris Beach isn’t the only Connecticut firm that has targeted Boston for growth.
Shipman & Goodwin LLP late last year opened a Boston office with the addition of attorneys from Tarlow Breed Hart & Rodgers.
