Louisville law firm Brown, Todd & Heyburn on Thursday said it will merge with the Cincinnati firm of Frost & Jacobs Nov. 1 to create a “super-regional” law firm with about 400 lawyers and more than $100 million in revenues.

        The merged firm, Frost Brown Todd LLC, will be the largest in both Cincinnati and Louisville. It also will have offices in Columbus and Middletown in Ohio; Lexington and Covington in Kentucky; Nashville, Tenn.; and New Albany, Ind.

        Ed Glasscock of Brown, Todd & Heyburn, who will be one of the new firm's two co-managing directors, said intellectual-property law, critical in e-commerce and the new economy, was an important factor in the merger.

        Some lawyers and legal scholars suggested that combining forces is a trend for law firms, especially for those that specialize in business law.

        “Clients are becoming increasingly interstate and international,” and, as a consequence, law firms are, too, said Don Burnett, a law professor and former dean of Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville.

        Said Jon Fleischaker, a Louis ville attorney with Dinsmore & Shohl: “We're going to have three or four super-regional firms in the next three or for years. It's the way we're going. I don't know whether it's forward or backward.”

        Mr. Glasscock and Richard J. Erickson, who will be the new firm's other co-managing director, told a crowd of employees at Brown, Todd & Heyburn's offices in Louisville that the merger is for the benefit of the clients of both firms.

        Mr. Glasscock said it will combine two “very strong intellectual-property practices” and will have more than 30 intellectual-property lawyers and 50 e-commerce lawyers.

        Mr. Glasscock said the new firm's Louisville office will be open to clients 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “We hope to expand this service to the other offices within the next few weeks,” he said.

        He said the Frost Brown Todd name, settled upon after much discussion, is the result of a coin toss. Brown, Todd & Heyburn won the toss, he said, and faced a choice of having one of its names first or being able to keep two of its names. He said it chose the latter to honor founders.

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