When Butler Snow LLP decided to take in its first large commercial litigation firm, it chose Nashville-based Walker, Tipps and Malone PLC.

The merger is part of a trend as boutique law firms seek the resources of full-service firms, which in turn are seeking the focused expertise of boutique firms.

“When you really want to serve your clients, sometimes you need that bench strength to be able to handle the really large matters,” said Butler Snow chairman Don Clark Jr. “We’re not in it to necessarily grow to be the biggest. But we do want to be of significant enough size and significant enough geographic diversity to represent our clients in the Southeastern United States.”

Robert J. Walker said he and the other founders of the 13-member Walker Tipps liked the independence of Butler Snow, which has offices throughout the U.S., including one in Memphis, as well as one in London.

“We were a one-dimensional litigation firm,” Walker said. “We got a lot of business from conflicts at other law firms. But it looked to me like in the future we would really need to be joined up with somebody that had a broader bunch of expertise.”