Texas has emerged as a center of gravity in the 2026 capital-markets rebound. Lone Star companies are bringing major deals to market, but Texas-based lawyers are increasingly leading their execution here and elsewhere.
The $75 billion SpaceX IPO illustrates this dynamic at its highest level. The transaction brought together Gibson Dunn as lead issuer counsel and Hunton Andrews Kurth in a specialized Texas-law and governance advisory role.
The distinction between Texas-led and Texas-related activity as measured by The Texas Lawbook’s exclusive Corporate Deal Tracker is key: the former measures work led from Texas, while the latter captures the broader universe of transactions involving Texas lawyers. Together, the data shows a deep market in which law firms operating in Texas are competing for both high-volume deal flow and the largest, most complex offerings, such as SpaceX’s IPO. And Texas-related totals include Texas-led.
For example, the Top 10 firms account for almost 92 percent of the deal-count total for Texas-led CapM activity in the first half of the year. Latham & Watkins was the clear volume leader, advising in 50 Texas-led transactions, followed by Vinson & Elkins’ 34. Baker Botts came in third with a strong showing in Texas-led CapM with 26 transactions. Haynes Boone, Simpson Thacher, Sidley and Winston Taylor all had strong showings, as well.
In terms of value, it’s much more concentrated at the top than count. Gibson Dunn alone accounts for about $113 billion, far ahead of Latham at $33.9 billion and Kirkland at $29.4 billion. Gibson’s result was driven principally by its lead-counsel role for SpaceX’s offering, the largest IPO in history.
To see the breakdowns for both categories, see the leaderboards below.
