Wyatt Tarrant merges with local law firm

Nashville office is getting 'priority' attention in a push for growth, after years of buffeting

Email | Print By Milt Capps

Clockwise, from top left: Hollins, Kaplan, Gibson, Hollander

Wyatt Tarrant & Combs today announced it has merged with Hollins & Associates, in a bid for a greater share of the Nashville market for legal services.

Former Hollins attorneys Courtney Hollins and Brendi Kaplan donned Wyatt colors yesterday, bringing to 20 the number of Wyatt lawyers here.

The Louisville-based firm has 241 attorneys in eight offices, in five states. Firmwide, 57 attorneys are women and a dozen minorities.

While Wyatt's Nashville office is now half the size it was in 2001, the firm's newly appointed managing partner, Bill Hollander, told NashvillePost.com this morning the firm is prepared to fund a sustained push for growth here, including further mergers.

Hollander's fresh impetus follows eight years characterized by attrition in the local ranks: Mike Milom and his entertainment-practice colleagues left for Bass Berry & Sims, and subsequently founded their own firm. In addition, Charles Bone and ten attorneys left Wyatt after a reported disagreement over management philosophy. Bone's firm has since grown to 30 lawyers.

Hollander said the firm recognizes that adding lawyers with strong reputations is key to service and business development.

He also stressed that the firm's core stability is reflected in the fact that many of the attorneys who joined the firm in 1989 when Wyatt entered the Nashville market are still practicing with the firm, including former Tennessee Bar Association President Harris Gilbert. Only one attorney has left in the past 19 months, he added.

Hollander and Hollins explained during an interview this morning that their merger agreement had moved on a fast track: Although a number of the firms' partners had known each other for years — often sitting across the table socially, as well as during real-estate transactions — talks got serious in August, when Hollander was brought into the picture by Nashville Partner in Charge Bill Gibson.

Hollins said this morning she "spent a lot of time asking questions" about the Wyatt firm, before deciding to relinquish ownership in her firm, where she had "my name on the board" and the pride of being a "100 percent woman-owned," in a community in which she has deep family roots.

Among Wyatt's 20 Nashville lawyers, three are women, all of whom are partners.

Hollins, a Maury County native and the daughter of a successful businessman, is a cousin of John Hollins Sr. and Jr. at Hollins Wagster Weatherly & Raybin.

As to motivation for merging, Hollins said she agreed with Hollander's comments about goals and strategy, and the opportunity to leverage Wyatt's "regional platform" of talent and contacts.

Hollander said that in addition to real-estate work, he aims to see the firm's corporate law practice grow. He said the firm is in discussions with lawyers elsewhere about mergers and lateral hires.

Before founding her firm 15 years ago, Hollins, 47, served as associate corporate counsel at First American National Bank and vice president for legal affairs for Jacques-Miller, an apartment and real-estate syndication company.

Before joining Hollins, Chicago-born Kaplan, 49, served as an attorney in the Metro Nashville law department, which led to her involvement in matters related to the Predators, the Titans, the now-Sommet Center and LP Field. She was also counsel for the Metro Hospital Authority board, and served as a Session Attorney for the Tennessee General Assembly.

Hollins earned her bachelor's at the University of Tennessee in 1982 and her J.D. at the university's George C. Taylor School of Law in 1985. Kaplan earned her bachelor's at Bradley University at Peoria in 1980, and her J.D. in 1984 at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Both women have held leadership positions within the Tennessee Bar Association, the Tennessee Lawyers Association for Women, the Nashville Bar Association and a wide array of specialized professional organizations and business groups.