Meritas (law)

Meritas, formerly known as Commercial Law Affiliates, is a services network consisting of a global alliance of business law firms that was founded in 1990. As of 2019, the association's membership included over 190 law firms in 97 countries, with more than 7500 lawyers worldwide. Functioning as a non-profit corporation headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Meritas operates on an invitation-only basis with its member firms requiring recertification every three years in order to maintain their membership.

Membership
Jennifer McPhee, writing for Canadian Lawyer, described Meritas as one of the "more established by-invitation only legal networks that do extensive research before carefully selecting one firm per jurisdiction." Corporate Counsel Weekly also wrote, "Meritas determines significant business or economic centers where member firms' clients may need local counsel in order to determine where it will have its members," and that "...all member firms provide Meritas with quarterly referral reports, listing all Meritas-originated referrals made to and from the firm for the stated period and cooperate in evaluating specific matters." If a firm does not receive good marks, its membership with the organization may be terminated.

Officers

 * May 1998: Jerome Reso (Baldwin Haspel Burke & Mayer, LLC - New Orleans, LA, USA) named as Meritas Chair
 * May 2001: George Cadman (Boughton Law Corporation - Vancouver, BC, Canada) named as Chair
 * May 2005: A. Lee Lundy (Tydings & Rosenberg LLP - Baltimore, Maryland, USA) named as Chair
 * February 2006: Tanna Moore named President and CEO
 * May 2007 Kenneth Kallish (Minden Gross LLP - Toronto, ON, Canada) named as Meritas Chair
 * July 2008: Jean-Paul Bignon named as Chair-elect
 * April 2009: Jean-Paul Bignon (Bignon Lebray - Paris, France) named as Chair
 * May 2011: Judith Lockhart (Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, New York, NY) named as Chair
 * May 2013: Andre Ryan (BCF LLP - Montreal, QC, Canada) named as Chair
 * May 2015: Dennis Unkovic (Meyer, Unkovic & Scott - Pittsburgh, PA, United States) named as Chair
 * May 2018: Jill Wiley (Waterfall Economidis - Tucson, Arizona, United States) named as Chair
 * February 2020: Sona Pancholy named President