// Ed. note: Welcome to our daily feature, Quote of the Day.

Firms will normally employ an outside firm for this. Lawyers are bad at being nonlawyers. Sometimes they will use their own people, but that can get messy.

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They announced a name and compensation system early. Those are the things that partners get upset about. Getting that on the table early stems some potential negative reactions from the partners. Some will be upset, but Shearman gets a stronger platform and A&O gets a stronger U.S. presence.

— Brad Hildebrandt, a veteran law firm merger consultant, in comments given to the American Lawyer on the proposed merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling, praising the firms’ decision to hire top-flight outside counsel like Davis Polk and Simpson Thacher to usher the deal to completion, and other steps they’ve taken to guide the merger to success thus far.

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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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A&O Shearman, Allen & Overy, Biglaw, Davis Polk, Law Firm Merger Mania, Law Firm Mergers, Quote of the Day, Shearman & Sterling, Simpson Thacher