After wicked hot lateral hiring markets in 2021 and 2022, corporate law firms in Texas became significantly more conservative and strategic in 2023.
Texas Lawbook data shows that 229 law firm partners in Texas moved their practices to new firms in 2023 — a 13 percent drop from the 263 in 2022.
Even so, some big names in corporate law changed addresses in 2023. The year started with Houston trial lawyer Sean Gorman and Dallas restructuring partner Rakhee Patel jumping to new firms and ended with Houston dealmaker Jon Daly and Dallas white-collar defense partner Barrett Howell making moves.
Several high-profile women partners found new homes, including Mary-Olga Lovett, Stephanie Clouston and Katy Lukaszewski.
As 2023 progressed, Rodney Moore, Chris Bennett, Rahul Vashi, David Sweeney, Greg Nelson, Mitch Tiras and Paul Genender switched firms.
A handful of prominent in-house counsel moved back to law firm life, including Exxon Mobil’s David Woodcock and Range Resources’ David Poole.
And there were other significant events impacting the data, including Holland & Knight’s acquisition of Waller, Clifford Chance’s office opening in Houston and Blank Rome’s expansion to Dallas.
“The Texas lateral market is strong compared to other markets,” said Lotus Legal Search founder Kate Cassidy, who is author of The Texas Lawbook column The Corner Office. “We still have new firms opening up and the hiring market is still robust. I think we can attribute that to the strong local economy and number of corporate headquarters in the state. Energy, healthcare, tech, white-collar and private capital are heavily requested areas from my clients. Commercial litigation hiring is up but firms seem risk averse in strategic hiring in this area and a self-sustaining book of business is important.”
Texas Lawbook lateral partner data shows that:
- Holland & Knight, Jackson Walker, Bradley, Spencer Fane, Blank Rome, Clifford Chance, Husch Blackwell and Winstead added the most lateral partners in 2023, while Waller, Kirkland & Ellis and Winston & Strawn lost the most partners to lateral moves.
- Three times more male law partners changed in 2023 than female partners.
- One hundred twenty corporate law partners moved their practices in 2023, up slightly from the 115 a year earlier.
- The number of litigation partners switching firms declined from 114 in 2022 to 81 last year.
- More Dallas/Fort Worth law partners found new addresses in 2023 than did those in Houston. Overall, there were 97 DFW law partners who jumped ship last year — up from 89 in 2022. By contrast, 92 Houston law partners found new homes for their practices in 2023 — down from 129 in 2022. The Austin market also cooled.
“Austin is a great city but doesn’t have the number of corporate headquarters and is now a bit saturated in terms of real estate costs and traffic, so it’s not surprising that the growth has slowed,” Cassidy said. “Also, with remote work, it’s not as necessary for firms to officially open an Austin office in order to hire attorneys who live there. Some attorneys live in Austin and are listed in the Houston or Dallas office for the firm.”
The full list of 2023 and 2022 law firm partners in Texas who made lateral moves can be found here.
