One of Louisiana's largest law firms is combining with a banking law firm from Alabama. Effective Sept. 1, Miller Hamilton, Snider and Odom LLC, the Alabama firm, will add 32 lawyers to Jones Walker, which has 240 attorneys. The new firm will keep the name Jones Walker and continue to be led by William Hines, Jones Walker's managing partner. "We've thought for a number of years that we want to have a larger geographic footprint in the Gulf South," Hines said Thursday of the merger. Miller Hamilton will add offices in Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery and Atlanta to Jones Walker and beef up the Louisiana firm's presence in Miami and Washington, D.C. Hines said the merger will allow Jones Walker to advise more easily large client International Shipholding Corp., which relocated to Mobile from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, obtain more Alabama business and expand its portfolio in the financial industry. After the merger, Jones Walker will have offices in Washington, Houston, Miami, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, New Orleans, Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery and Atlanta.