Two legacy law firms will merge Jan. 1, a move that partners of each firm say will not only increase services to clients but also help attract new talent to the combined organization.

The merger of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor and Fairgrave and Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler and Hagen will bring together about 60 lawyers and 90 practice areas to create one of the largest law firms in Iowa. Bradshaw was founded 106 years ago. Dickinson was formed 86 years ago.

“These firms complement each other quite well,” said Sean O’Brien, a partner with Bradshaw.

Talks about a possible merger began about a year ago. The merger was approved by shareholders, or partners, from each firm on Nov. 20.

Mollie Pawlosky, a partner with Dickinson, said the merger made sense as the legal market continues to evolve.

“There are certain aspects of how the Des Moines legal market is developing,” she said. “You have a lot of baby boomers that are transitioning, you have a lot of 30-somethings. You don’t really have that many that are what typically is the bread and butter of the marketplace, and that always made me interested in opportunities, candidly partnering up with other firms where there are people of my cohort, of my generation.”

Pawlosky is 53; O’Brien is 54. Their paths crossed when they attended Grinnell College — both were members of the class of 1992.

“Most firms in Iowa are a bit of an hourglass,” Pawlosky said. “You have the generation that is transitioning out and maybe the younger generation, but that was one of the things, at Bradshaw, the structure was similar in that regard but there were people of my generation that I’ve worked with or have had contact with. So it kind of crossed a lot of different nexuses in that regard.”

The merger will provide an opportunity to increase legal services for clients of both firms, the attorneys said.

One example is the Dickinson firm, while having what Pawlosky described as a “very robust employment section,” does not have anyone who handles workers’ compensation cases.

“We’ve always had to refer that out, now we’re not going to need to do that,” she said. “Now we will have people who can handle those types of claims. So I think there were very few conflicts and there were a lot of synergies where we could work together.”

O’Brien said he serves as outside general counsel to an insurance company in Des Moines and the merger will provide someone with employment expertise in-house.

“From time to time, there’s employment law questions that come up, and I don’t have an employment law specialist right now, so either I have to figure that out myself or farm it out. Now I can just walk down the hall and that’s a great asset to have,” he said.

O’Brien said he expects the merger to be seamless.

“It’s going to be a plug and play opportunity for everyone,” he said.

The name of the merged law firm will be Dickinson, Bradshaw, Fowler & Hagen, P.C. It will be located in the current space occupied by the Bradshaw firm on the 36th and 37th floors, about 33,000 square feet, at 801 Grand Ave. Dickinson is located at 699 Walnut St., where it occupies the 16th floor and part of the 15th floor of the Hub Tower. It will vacate that space when it moves.

Pawlosky and O’Brien said the plan is to bring along all employees, attorneys and support staff from Dickinson as part of the merger.

“We don’t have any current expectations to change that,” Pawlosky said. “Frankly, none of us have done this before. We need all hands on deck for the transition.”

The attorneys said they also see the merger as a tool for talent attraction in the future.

“I think we’re more attractive together than apart in large part because of that history, but also because of that shared common culture,” O’Brien said.

He said Bradshaw had reached a point where it needed to grow, and it made sense to partner with another Iowa-based law firm.

“And so how do you do that most efficiently?” he said. “Do you rebuild and try to grow it on your own over a longer time, or do you reload? It made sense that the reload option is an immediate solution. What that means is now we’re growing from a larger base with larger offerings, a larger diversity of offerings that might be more attractive to a younger lawyer, and that helps you continue to perpetuate that growth.”

“I think it checks a lot of boxes,” Pawlosky said. “There are students that are going to come out of law school, they’re going to look at the headcount, and I think we’ll check that box. There are students who are going to look for that heritage. What that signifies, how you come together, the role these firms have played in the community, the caliber of individual attorneys.”

According to Pawlosky, the merger makes sense because of the shared culture and relationships between the two firms.

“These are people that I would work as co-counsel on a case with … and we all know each other in the community, and there’s a range of reasonableness and time and time again, when I was with the Bradshaw people, we made the same decision,” she said. “And it would just sort of happen organically. Those are the kind of people you want to be partners in business with.”