NOTE: This story has been updated to include statements from the law firms that clarifies and corrects information from a prior version.
Reed Smith is expected to open an office in Dallas through a lateral raid of at least two firms, but the Pittsburgh-based law firm apparently is not landing some of the lawyers it coveted and pursued.
Multiple sources have told The Texas Lawbook that Reed Smith, which already has operations in Houston and Austin, plans to launch its newest office with between 30 and 40 lawyers.
The Texas Lawbook reported Tuesday that sources familiar with Reed Smith’s efforts said that as many as 15 attorneys from Seattle-based Perkins Coie and up to a dozen attorneys from Bracewell could make the jump to Reed Smith.
Officials at Bracewell and Perkins Coie adamantly denied key portions of The Lawbook report.
Bracewell officials confirmed that two partners – not 12 – are moving their practices to Reed Smith. Bracewell identified the two lawyers as finance partner Al Kyle and litigation partner Brian Mitchell. Perkins Coie stated that only eight of its lawyers – four partners and four associates – are leaving for Reed Smith.
Bracewell officials also stated that The Lawbook report that lawyers from its prominent public finance group are leaving the firm is “absolutely false.”
In an article published Tuesday, The Lawbook quoted multiple sources saying that Reed Smith was negotiating with lawyers in Bracewell’s public finance group.
A senior level lawyer at Bracewell, speaking on the condition that he or she not be identified, told The Lawbook on Wednesday that its public finance group is not leaving Bracewell for Reed Smith or any other law firm, and that no such serious negotiations had taken place. Reed Smith and its headhunters made multiple pitches to attorneys in Bracewell’s public finance team, but Bracewell lawyers never gave the offers serious consideration, the senior lawyer said.
However, two senior-level partners at two other law firms in Dallas, speaking to The Texas Lawbook on the condition that they not be identified, said that their firms also had direct recruitment discussions with lawyers at Bracewell and Perkins Coie – though neither source identified the practice group of the Bracewell or Perkins Coie attorneys. Both lawyers said that the Bracewell and Perkins Coie lawyers and headhunters acting as intermediaries told them that they were already in discussions with Reed Smith.
The two partners, in an interview late Tuesday, stated that it was possible that some of the lawyers at Bracewell and Perkins Coie decided to stay at their respective firms instead of joining Reed Smith, even though Reed Smith was offering a more generous compensation package.
Bracewell officials complained that The Texas Lawbook published the article without giving the law firm an opportunity to respond. The Lawbook, however, did reach out during the past week via LinkedIn to multiple partners and by email to a senior level official at Bracewell seeking comment. None of them responded.
However, Morgan Lewis announced Wednesday that two Bracewell partners, Robert Sheeder and Janice Z. Davis, joined their Dallas office. Sheeder is a veteran litigator who chaired Bracewell’s labor and employment practice. Davis is a corporate lawyer who specializes in health and technology clients, and co-led the firm’s technology transactions practice.
The sources say Reed Smith was expected to announce its Dallas office opening on May 1. Since that has not yet happened, it opens questions of notice provisions at the two affected firms and the possibility that Bracewell and Perkins Coie were able to convince some of the partners recruited by Reed Smith to remain at their current law firms.
Reed Smith has been seeking to make a splash in Dallas through lateral hiring ever since opening its Houston office in 2013. The national law firm initially courted a number of Texas-based firms for a merger, which included advanced talks with Thompson & Knight that ended in 2011.
Reed Smith officials have not answered requests from The Lawbook seeking comment on opening a Dallas office.
Two attorneys leaving Perkins Coie, according to Lawbook sources, include prominent commercial litigator Mark Johansen and corporate partner Bobby Majumder, who chaired Perkins Coie’s India practice group. They did not return requests seeking comment.
Johansen joined Perkins Coie in May 2018 after the breakup of the litigation boutique Gruber Hail Johansen Shank. Johansen has been involved in a wide swath of high-stakes cases from the entertainment and energy industries to M&A litigation.
Majumder has handled a number of high-profile transactional matters, including when he advised the government of India on a $706 million initial public offering of its first public sector exchange-traded fund on the National Stock Exchange. He also represented Amazon.com on its $60 million investment in BankBazar, an online lending marketplace in India.
Until recently, Majumder was the Perkins Coie Dallas managing partner, a position he assumed in January 2017. But according to sources, firm management has already visited and “reconfigured the local Dallas management” in anticipation of Majumder’s lateral move. And although there hasn’t been a public announcement of the leadership change, the firm’s website now lists technology transactional lawyer Dean Harvey as Dallas managing partner.
Perkins Coie firmwide managing partner John Devaney made the announcement about the change in Dallas leadership official in a statement sent to The Lawbook Tuesday evening.
“Since entering the Dallas market nine years ago, Perkins Coie has seen growth in client demand for our services and particularly in those practices focusing on our core strength in technology,” Devaney said. “We’re excited about the future, the exceptional talent on our Dallas team, and the appointment of Partner Dean Harvey to lead our team as Dallas managing partner. Perkins Coie has a strong core of lawyers in Dallas and will continue to provide a broad array of services, including corporate transactions and licensing, litigation, labor and employment, bankruptcy, and real estate. We look forward to building upon the success we’ve had locally and beyond.”
Claire Poole and Mark Curriden contributed to this report.