LEWISTON – A merger between a local law firm and a much bigger practice in Portland is expected to provide both businesses with the same thing: expanded services for their clientele.

Bonneau & Geismar, a longtime downtown Lewiston law firm, has joined forces with Portland-based Norman Hanson & DeTroy. The merger took effect in January, but was made public this week.

“It was a natural fit,” said John Bonneau, who has practiced in Lewiston since 1975. “They wanted what we had and did, and vice versa.”

Bonneau & Geismar and its staff of five lawyers specialize in business and corporate law, in areas such as taxes, estates, trusts and transitional issues. Norman, Hanson & DeTroy are well-known litigators, whose staff of 25 lawyers have expertise in areas such as workers compensation, insurance and product liability, civil rights and other employment-related issues.

“Over the last two years, we were doing some long-range planning, who we are and who we want to become,” said Stephen Hessert, managing partner with Norman Hanson & DeTroy. “We decided we wanted to diversify our practice and offer a broader range of services to our clients. Then we identified additional practice areas that made sense.”

Corporate taxes, estates and trusts were high among them, and Bonneau & Geismar had a solid reputation in that arena, said Hessert. Coincidentally, partners at both law firms had been friends since their undergraduate days at Bowdoin and Colby. After several months of discussions, the two firms decided to merge.

“This isn’t an acquisition, they didn’t buy our assets,” said Bonneau, emphasizing that the Lewiston firm will continue to operate from its Lisbon Street offices.

But there will be changes. For the short-term, the Lewiston staff will continue to use the names Bonneau and Geismar with Norman Hanson & DeTroy, but eventually the names Bonneau and Geismar will disappear. New letterhead and business cards will reflect the change, although the Lewiston receptionist will greet callers with all five names until clients are used to the switch.

“We were answering the phone ‘Norman Hanson & DeTroy’ and people were hanging up,” said Bonneau with a chuckle.

He said he’s pleased with the new arrangement, one which gives the smaller firm greater resources, especially in research and support. He said business has been good – so good that they’re adding another lawyer to the staff.

“From a Lewiston perspective, we were looking for manpower, research personnel and trial lawyers,” said Bonneau of the merger. “This works out dandily for all concerned.”

Hessert said joining forces was a more efficient way to provide expanded services to its clientele, rather than developing those specialties in-house from scratch.

“This way we have top-quality experts with experience whom we can comfortably refer clients to right away,” he said. “These are highly skilled people.”

The merger also gives the Portland-based staff a place to do business while in the Lewiston-Auburn area courts, or with local clients. Likewise, the Lewiston-based staff will operate out of Norman Hanson and DeTroy offices on Congress Street when business calls from the state’s biggest city.

Both Bonneau and Geismar retain partner status at Norman Hanson & DeTroy and a seat on its management committee.