Now that the proposed transatlantic merger between O’Melveny & Myers and Allen & Overy has officially fizzled out, a deal between two U.S. midwestern regional firms could turn out to be the biggest law firm combination announced in 2019.

So far, Friday’s news that Cincinnati-based Taft Stettinius & Hollister will merge with Briggs and Morgan – a Minneapolis-based firm with about 135 lawyers – marks the largest law firm acquisition of the year. That’s a far cry from 2018, when five much larger deals had already been announced by early summer, according to data collected by ALM and Altman Weil.