Inside the Troutman Pepper Locke Merger
What clients can expect from our expanded private equity practice
The newly combined Troutman Pepper Locke officially debuted on Jan. 1, following the merger between Troutman Pepper and Locke Lord that was announced last September.
With more than 1,600 attorneys in 35 offices across each of the Top 10 legal markets in the U.S., this is a powerful moment of growth for our firm. Within our private equity practice, we now have more than 200 PE lawyers and subject matter experts. The combination effectively doubled the number of clients we serve and the volume of deals we advise on across the middle and lower-middle market.
This section of the report is sponsored by Troutman Pepper Locke and originally appeared in the Middle Market Growth 2025 Outlook Report.
As specialists in middle-market private equity dealmaking, Troutman Pepper Locke is more equipped than ever to guide our clients through the entire PE lifecycle, from fund formation and management to regulatory compliance, deal execution and beyond. Our goal is to be the No. 1 firm in the country for M&A across the middle and lower-middle market, and we are well on our way.
Synergistic Combination
Ensuring company cultures are aligned is vital to the success of any merger. Troutman Pepper and Locke Lorde had similar values and philosophies on client services, making our combination a logical and highly complementary next step.
Even before the merger, Troutman Pepper and Locke Lord were close collaborators, with synergies within our industry focuses. That overlap strengthens our expertise across our core sectors: energy, financial services, healthcare and life sciences, insurance and reinsurance, real estate and, of course, private equity.
As Troutman Pepper Locke, our expertise is now amplified to support our clients across the breadth of transaction types, from early-stage growth equity through larger buyout deals. The combined experience of our team means we can offer an even higher caliber of specialized advice and individually crafted solutions that sponsors and business operators need.
A Team Effort Behind Clients
In today’s challenging dealmaking climate, lower-middle-market and middle-market private equity dealmakers need M&A partners that can support all facets of transacting.
Our combined forces have created a vibrant fund formation practice to represent both GPs and LPs; support fund structuring as funds grow larger, more sophisticated and often industry-specific; and augment support with services like fund level structuring, tax advice and compliance.
As regulations evolve, our practice can address compliance needs with agility. Our robust regulatory expertise allows our PE clients to pursue growth in highly regulated sectors like healthcare and energy. Our growth also strengthens our expertise in representing SBIC investors.
The comprehensive scope in our practice reflects the value we place on expertise. With our colleagues in debt, finance, tax, environment, labor, employment and beyond often involved in a single deal, it truly is a team effort to deliver value so our clients can pursue growth.
We know that judgments made by M&A partners are just as important as the business decisions clients make themselves. With this merger, Troutman Pepper Locke has even more robust expertise to provide deal-doers with the definitive guidance they need at every critical stage of a transaction.
Paul Mahoney and Matt Greenberg are Partners at Troutman Pepper Locke.
Middle Market Growth is produced by the Association for Corporate Growth. To learn more about the organization and how to become a member, visit www.acg.org.
