Alumni News: Peter Michaud ’97 and Barbara Duffy ’89 Discuss the Merger between Ballard Spahr and Seattle-based Lane Powell

Minnesota Law alumni Peter Michaud ’97, chair of Ballard Spahr, and Barbara Duffy ’89, recent president of Lane Powell, discussed the recent completion of a merger between Ballard Spahr and Seattle-based Lane Powell in an interview with the Star Tribune. They reference the 2022 issue of Minnesota Law magazine where they both appeared in the feature story about leading law firms during changing times as one of the starting points of their professional connection. Michaud told the Star Tribune, "My article was about the fact that I was the new chair of a firm that historically had been managed in the East, and I had only been at the firm about three years, so it was pretty early on. And then Barb’s article was about return to work, about how law firms were getting people back into the office because that was still something that was talked about a lot. So, I think then once we started talking, that’s when we found out we had some commonalities there." In discussing the merger and building a presence in the Pacific Northwest, Michaud noted that while Ballard Spahr had clients in the Pacific Northwest, they didn't have a physical office space in the area. They also didn't have a lot of overlap in practice areas which both firms felt was a strength. Duffy says, "We built something very special at Lane Powell, and we were very strong, very profitable. But we needed to do this for the next generation of Lane Powell. And we just wanted to keep that together. And we felt like the odds of keeping everyone together — so people didn’t need to feel like they had to leave because of conflicts or what have you — were increased if we combined with a firm outside of our markets."