At a time when large corporate law firms operating in Texas have been feasting on talent from litigation boutiques, Bissinger, Oshman & Williams has landed a reply punch.
The six-lawyer Houston litigation firm announced Thursday that John B. Strasburger, a partner in the trial department at Winston & Strawn, has joined Bissinger Oshman.
A three-decade veteran of the Texas commercial litigation community, Strasburger is reuniting with two long-time friends – Dave Bissinger, who he worked with for five years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and David Ayers, who he recruited out of law school to work at then Fulbright & Jaworski.
In fact, Strasburger introduced Bissinger to his now wife, Houston real estate attorney Meg Bissinger, when they were rookie lawyers.
“I’ve remained very close – personally and professionally – with Dave and David over the years and we have often talked about practicing together,” Strasburger said. “Today, that officially happened.”
A 1989 graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, Strasburger said he has no complaints about his eight years at Winston & Strawn in Houston, which he described as a great law firm with great lawyers and good friends.
“For the past 31 years, I have practiced at three very good but very large law firms,” he said. “I have always wanted to be a little more entrepreneurial and work at a firm where I didn’t have to do massive conflicts checks and didn’t have to worry about my pricing for clients and didn’t need to get 50 partners to sign off so I could take a plaintiff’s case.”
Bissinger said Strasburger is a “perfect fit” for the litigation boutique, which he said is renaming itself Bissinger, Oshman, Williams & Strasburger.
“John is a preeminent bet-the-company lawyer with a demonstrated track record of success in leading the prosecution and defense of numerous high-profile complex commercial disputes,” Bissinger said.
Strasburger is currently co-counsel with Winston & Strawn partner Paula Hinton in representing Houston-based Waste Management in litigation matters.
In the past, he played a leading role in the Enron and Lehman Brothers bankruptcies and he represented SemGroup during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. He has extensive experience in cases involving employment covenant and trade-secret disputes, particularly in the energy sector.
After law school, Strasburger spent five years at Fulbright and then 15 years at Weil before joining Winston in 2013.
Strasburger said he has received an overwhelmingly positive response from clients about his move, which he said will allow him more flexibility and be “more efficient in the delivery of legal services to clients.”
“We are very excited about the possibilities,” he said.