National law firms with Colorado presence mergeDENVER — Two major national law firms with presences on the Front Range have announced their merger.

Ballard Spahr and Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz (LSKS) — a preeminent First Amendment and media law boutique — will merge effective Oct. 1.

The combination will be under the name Ballard Spahr, according to a news release, and brings together two renowned media law practices.

All 25 of LSKS’s lawyers, including its four name partners, will join Ballard Spahr in its Denver, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., offices — the same locations where LSKS had offices.

“We have made one outstanding addition after another to our Media and Entertainment Law Group—including Practice Leaders David Bodney and Chuck Tobin, who are recognized as among the very best in the business,” said Ballard Spahr Chair Mark Stewart, in a prepared statement. “With the arrival of LSKS, we will have one of the largest practices of its kind in the country. The LSKS lawyers are terrific people whose dedication to this critically important work mirrors ours. It is an exciting development for both firms.”

The LSKS merger is the second to be announced by Ballard Spahr recently. Earlier this month, Ballard Spahr announced it was joining with Minneapolis-based Lindquist & Vennum, which specializes in middle-market M&A and private equity deals. That merger, effective Jan. 1, expands Ballard Spahr’s footprint in the Midwest, with offices in Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, S.D., and expanding its offices in Denver.

Ballard Spahr also has attorneys in Boulder.