When the economy took a nosedive in 2008, Boston-based commercial real estate-focused law firm Dionne & Gass had to rethink the way it would operate in the altered economic climate. To expand its resources, Dionne & Gass merged this month with Saul Ewing, a Philadelphia law firm with nine offices on the East Coast, becoming the Philly firm’s new Boston office.

Richard Gass, a seasoned real estate and corporate attorney, was a founding member of the local firm and has since become Ewing’s managing partner here. Sally Michael, a former partner with Dionne & Gass, focuses her practice on complex portfolio transactions and joint venture deals with sophisticated tax aspects. She is now vice managing partner of the office.

Sally Michael

Title: Vice Managing Partner, Saul Ewing; Boston

Age: 49

Experience: 24 YearsRichard Gass

Title: Managing Partner, Saul Ewing; Boston

Age: 64

Experience: 40 Years

Q: What was the impetus for the merger?

Gass: This [recession] was different from other market fluctuations we’ve seen in real estate. When we realized that we said, ‘Look, we have more space than we need for the people we have, we have more than our share of the businesses out there, but we need to find a better way to deal with the new economics of the industry.’ Shedding space was not an option that really interested anyone. And when we started looking for options, we were to an extent surprised at the very positive response we received from other firms, some larger firms, that either didn’t have an office in Boston or that had opened an office in Boston but found it was difficult to open up the door and start in the Boston market.

We found ourselves speaking with a half dozen or so law firms that were interested in bringing us in to help grow an office they had started here, or to serve as a base for a firm that wanted to open here but hadn’t yet. The arrangement with Saul Ewing came together within 30 to 60 days from when we started talking seriously. We had started as a small firm. We felt we had something very different from the rest of the legal market. Saul Ewing shared so many of the same values and culture of our office. There’s a collegiality, a tendency of people to enjoy working and being together, that we share with them.

Q: What do you bring to Saul Ewing, and what does Saul Ewing bring to Dionne & Gass?

Michael: There are lots of synergies between the two firms. Saul Ewing has contacts in Boston that they had not been yet able to utilize because they didn’t have people on the ground. So now they have us as a base and they can expand their contacts here, and vice versa. We do deals in places that Saul Ewing already has offices. So there are many resources we can tap into.

Gass: Saul Ewing has a tremendously powerful real estate practice. And our lawyers add a depth to their real practice. With us, there will probably be 50 lawyers doing primarily commercial real estate-related stuff, which is a large group in the Mid-Atlantic for a firm of that size. We would hope that some of the clients Saul Ewing has in energy-related and other fields will introduce us into new areas that we haven’t had a lot of active involvement in before now.

Q: Is Boston a place where more big law firms feel they need to have a foothold?

Gass: It was very interesting when we started this process to find the number of firms that had identified Boston as an area they were interested in expanding into. When you look at the real estate market in Boston … many of the things that happened [during the recession] in other areas didn’t happen as badly to people in Boston. What are the things that will drive the economy into the future over the next decade? No one knows for sure, but you know those will involve things that are associated with Boston, like health care, higher education, biotech. Also, there’s already a great deal more activity now than a year ago, like the market for leasing in the Back Bay.

Since the announcement of our merger, a number of brokers called us to say congratulations on the merger, and then would say, ‘By the way, are you moving? We could really use your space.’ So there’s positive movement. But there’s no talk for us of moving, though we do plan to grow the office at some point. I think there are a lot of unhappy lawyers in Boston, and finding a place that has a reputation for the kind of culture that we’ve had for years, and given the platform strength Saul Ewing offers, it’s a dynamite combination.

Michael & Gass’ Five Most Important Aspects of a Successful Law Office:

• Collegiality
• Cooperation
• Insight
• Creativity
• Respect