Via New York Lawyer, a story on large law firms looking to merge their way into Silicon Valley practices as tech warms up again.  But in at least one case, a boutique practice is not interested (yet) - the boutique life is nice, and not everyone wants to be big.  Money quote:

"One of the things that becomes apparent in discussions with other firms is that they are still caught up in the pressure that come from profits-per-partner ranking," he said. "Are there advantages of associating with a bigger firm? Sure. There are also advantages of being small. We can be Switzerland."