Devika Kornbacher is joining Austin-based Huggins Reddien as a name partner, and the firm will immediately become Huggins Reddien Kornbacher.
Jay Reddien said Kornbacher will help the firm “supercharge” its mission of a law practice that “can serve not merely as a support function, but as a strategic catalyst to a business.”
“We know our niche and place in the ecosystem,” Paul Huggins said in a news release. “And the chance to have a lawyer of Devika’s caliber join us to help solidify our vision is incredibly energizing.”
The technology-focused boutique firm said Kornbacher is “a strategist whose experience spans large-scale tech transactions, commercialization of emerging technologies, AI frameworks, quantum initiatives, privacy, cybersecurity, IP strategy, and multi-jurisdictional regulatory frameworks.”
“Our clients range from early-stage startups to unicorns to mature enterprises,” Reddien said in the release. “All of them need and appreciate counsel that understands the technology at a deep level and can operate at the same pace as their ambitions. Devika will help us supercharge our mission.”
Kornbacher comes to the new firm from Clifford Chance, where she helped start the Houston office in 2023 as managing partner and served as co-chair of the firm’s Global Tech Group. Prior to that, she was a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Houston for nearly 16 years.
“I’m genuinely excited to join Paul, Jay, and the rest of the HRK team to double down on deep, hands-on legal engagement — advancing work that helps clients not just manage risk, but strategically shape the legal dimensions of their innovation,” Kornbacher said in the release. “This team is a tight group that has the experience to provide elite service to clients and drive novel ideas from concept all the way to commercialization.”
Kornbacher holds a civil/structural engineering degree from the University of Houston and spent a few years as a engineer at Paragon Engineering Services (now Amec). She went on to Harvard Law School and spent a year as counsel in BP’s global technology and sourcing group before joining V&E in 2006.
When she left V&E to join Clifford Chance, The Lawbook spoke to Kornbacher about how she got involved in IP/tech law.