Oklahoma City-based Andrews Davis has launched Meritas with approximately 200 other business law firms. Based on 10 years of experience under the name Commercial Law Affiliates, Meritas is a closely integrated group of full-service law firms that will provide business clients with worldwide access to comprehensive legal services.

“As more companies do business worldwide, both large and small companies alike are finding they need coordinated, knowledgeable global legal services,” said John Fischer of Andrews Davis “It used to be that the only options for companies were to build up their own in-house legal department, use large national firms, or develop personal networks of preferred legal providers. Meritas is a direct response to client dissatisfaction with national and international law firms. Through Meritas’ legal service model, Andrews Davis can provide clients with coordinated, cost-effective services to meet their legal needs using law firms that adhere to the same high quality standards.”

“Meritas is the next evolution in providing clients the very highest quality of legal services, with the addition of new features that aren’t available from other sources,” said George Cadman, Meritas board chair.

Meritas offers clients accountable, coordinated service through:

• comprehensive evaluation records, with up to 10 years of client satisfaction and quality service data. Each referring firm or client is surveyed for their satisfaction, providing tangible evidence of high performance.
• an online database of Meritas attorneys, searchable by legal skill and industry expertise. The database, which currently highlights U.S. member firms, will be expanded to include Meritas’ 5,000 attorneys worldwide, with Canada and Europe online in the coming months.
• common technology platforms, enabling clients to benefit from multijurisdictional client management teams, and cross border practice groups, and
• centralized billing ­ when invoice management is desired.

Membership in Meritas is by invitation only, with members required to adhere to rigorous quality standards set by clients, and a stringent code of ethics. Member firms, which are ranked in the top 10 in most cities, also must participate in common governance and are subject to an annual recertification process.

For clients, Meritas’ extensive due diligence process for prospective members and stringent membership requirements ensure easy access to pre-screened, full-service and specialized legal expertise worldwide.

“As Meritas’ Oklahoma City firm, Andrews Davis is the gateway to Meritas’ worldwide services,” said Fischer, “And we can offer our clients the comfort of knowing that their legal work will be handled reliably and consistently.”

“The advent of Meritas is a natural evolution from Commercial Law Affiliates, allowing us to achieve economies of scale and cost-efficiencies for clients,” said Fischer. “We also can continue to attract and retain high quality associates interested in practicing on a worldwide platform, and leverage our intellectual capital and high quality standards to meet business requirements worldwide.”

Andrews Davis is a business and litigation law firm providing clients innovative and practical solutions to their legal needs. Andrews Davis has served businesses, professional groups and individuals in Oklahoma and worldwide for more than half a century.