D.C.-based litigation firm Steptoe’s entrance to the Texas market came Tuesday with an announcement it had acquired Houston litigation boutique Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, bringing on board 23 SKV attorneys.
“Steptoe is getting a Houston office… lock, stock and barrel,” Craig Smyser said in an interview with The Lawbook Tuesday afternoon.
Smyser, who cofounded SKV in 1995, said his firm had been approached several times over the years by national and international firms looking to expand into Texas. There’s one reason in particular why the negotiations with Steptoe, which began in May, ended with this merger: Steptoe was willing to take on every member of the SKV team.
Other firms, Smyser said, had instead been interested in “cherry picking” a few select partners.
“Every partner at SKV is joining Steptoe,” he said. “Every lawyer, every associate, every of counsel, every staff attorney and our office staff.”
Steptoe will be taking over SKV’s office lease on Texas Avenue in downtown.
Steptoe’s chair, Gwen Renigar, told The Lawbook that the move made sense for many reasons, including overlapping clients and philosophies.
“It’s an amazing law firm with a lot of magic,” she said. “It’s a rocket ship that had its best year in 2023. Coincidentally, Steptoe had its best year in 2023.”
And keeping the office in tact was important, she said.
“The magic they had is magic I did not want to disturb.”
The merger marks Steptoe’s expansion into Texas. The firm has offices in Beijing, Brussels, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Renigar said for now the firm is interested in adding to its ranks of litigation attorneys in Houston rather than expanding into other Texas cities.
“Growth into Texas was a strategic goal,” she said. “But we only wanted to do it if it was the right move, meaning we had to find strong talent with a strong reputation, and we found that in SKV.”
Earlier this month four SKV partners — co-founder Lee Kaplan, Garland “Land” Murphy, Dane Ball and Michelle Stratton — left and formed a new firm focused on civil trials, white collar matters and appeals. That firm is called Murphy Ball Stratton.
Since that firm launched, two additional former SKV attorneys have joined — Rick Houghton and Conor Harvey.
Smyser said those attorneys left the firm for their own reasons and not because of any incompatibility between their practices and Steptoe’s structure.
“They all would have been welcomed at Steptoe if they decided to stay,” he said.
Another reason why joining with Steptoe was attractive, Smyser said, is because it is “almost exclusively” focused on litigation, not transactional work and litigation like some of the largest firms.
“I’m not being disparaging but it often has been the case that litigation and trials take a back seat and I’m interested in continuing to try lawsuits, which we do a lot of in Texas,” he said.
While he gave up the titles of founding partner and name partner in the tie-up with Steptoe, Smyser said he plans to continue trying lawsuits and bringing in new clients, something Renigar said will bring value to the firm’s clients.
“Craig is an incredible trial lawyer,” she said. “Goal No. 1 is that he continue to be able to do that great work for the clients that are joining Steptoe from SKV but also for legacy Steptoe clients. There are lots of ways his leadership, litigation and trial skills are going to help all of our lawyers.”
“We’re tremendously honored that a firm as renowned as SKV has decided to join us.”