Greater demand for long-term care cost management counsel by Connecticut’s aging population has spurred two local law firms to join forces, in an effort to offer a wider array of legal services to a growing customer base.
Berlin’s CzepigaDaly and the Law Offices of Sharon L. Pope in Hartford recently announced a deal to merge and operate as CzepigaDalyPope.
Paul Czepiga and Brendan Daly opened CzepigaDaly in 1998; Pope started her firm six years ago.
With 30 staffers, including eight attorneys and offices in Berlin, Hartford, Vernon, and Simsbury, they become one of the largest elder and estate planning legal firms in Connecticut. Brendan Daly, managing partner and principal at CzepigaDaly, said the two firms discussed the merger for three years with the intention of creating a one-stop shop for elder care legal services.
“All of our practice areas are complementary, and each firm really expanded its services and the quality of care we give to our clients,” Daly said.
The legal industry has seen significant merger and acquisition activity in recent years, particularly among small firms looking to gain scale and offer broader services and expertise in an increasingly competitive environment.
In 2013, 88 law firm mergers were announced in the U.S., up 47 percent from a year earlier, according to legal consultancy Altman Weil Inc. About 82 percent of the deals involved firms with 20 or fewer lawyers.
It was the highest number of law firm combinations in at least seven years and several deals occurred in Connecticut: Farmington’s Levy & Droney joined forces with Hinckley Allen, and Pullman and Comley absorbed lawyers from Hartford’s Sullivan Schoen Campane & Connon.
“These kinds of deals are smart, low-risk moves to enter new markets and acquire new clients, and we expect the trend to continue in 2014,” said Altman Weil principal Ward Bower.
Daly said establishing trust and a smooth transition were two important factors to moving forward with their deal. Both firms teamed up together on numerous cases over a three-year period to ensure they could work together. And Daly said it was crucial the merger did not result in layoffs.
“It was a well thought-out, detailed process, very much like courting before marriage,” said Pope. “We spent a lot of time together, practicing many different types of cases together before we made the final decision.”
The firm’s three principals said the merger was driven by the state’s rapidly aging population, which is experiencing skyrocketing long-term care costs and complicated rules related to public benefit eligibility.
For older residents, getting their financial house in order has not only become increasingly important, but also more complex.
“Since the areas of elder law, estate planning and probate require multiple areas of expertise and collaboration, our clients will benefit from having all of the staff in one place,” said Paul Czepiga, a principal of the firm.
A growing number of people in the “sandwich” generation — those who have Baby Boomer parents and Generation X children — are overwhelmed by what they need to know to qualify for public benefits. Those people don’t know how to financially prepare for long-term care needs, said Pope.
“The demands on their time and energy are often compounded by the stress of being caregivers,” said Pope.
CzepigaDalyPope offers an integrated array of services in the areas of estate planning, elder law, probate matters, trust and fiduciary services, and special needs and disability planning.
The deal allows both firms to build upon their existing capabilities including disability law, said Daly, and to provide legal assistance to more individuals with special needs and the family members who care for them.
The firm didn’t disclose any financials, but Czepiga expects the practice to grow by at least 20 percent this year. The law group sees about 700 new clients per year.
The firm will try to distinguish itself from other elder law and estate planning firms by the wide array of on-staff professionals it employs, which include a registered nurse, a geriatric care manager, an insurance specialist, a nursing home administrator, a Spanish speaking attorney, a certified public accountant and a trial attorney.
And one of their goals is to help clients remain as independent as possible, particularly as people have an increasing desire to be cared for at home, or in the community, Pope said. “People worry that they’ll have to exhaust their life savings,” says Pope. “Our goal is to look for every possible benefit to help stretch their dollars to keep them as independent as possible.”
