Top 50 US firm Piper Rudnick
is in advanced merger talks with high-powered Washington DC public policy boutique Verner Liipfert Bernhard McPherson and Hand.

The 70-lawyer Verner Liipfert counts a number of leading political figures among its ranks, including former US presidential contender Bob Dole as well as Northern Ireland peace envoy, George Mitchell.
Pipers’ Washington DC managing partner, Jerry Liss, told Legal Week: “Verner Liipfert has a fine labour and international trade litigation practice and we are in very serious discussions.”