Another large corporate full-service law firm has nabbed another young partner from a litigation boutique.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher announced Wednesday that Collin Cox, a trial partner at Yetter Coleman, to lead its commercial litigation practice in Houston.
A 2001 graduate of Duke University School of Law, Cox has scored major courtroom successes representing corporate clients such as Noble Energy and Encana Oil and Gas. He’s also worked on the plaintiff’s side and won trials that resulted in eight- and nine-digit verdicts and settlements.
“We canvassed the Houston market for a couple years, and Collin’s name kept popping up as a great trial lawyer,” said Gibson Dunn partner Rob Walters. “The plan is for Collin to grow out the office and build a litigation team in Houston, though we look at the Houston and Dallas offices as a unified litigation team.”
Gibson Dunn added former Texas solicitor general Kyle Hawkins to its Houston office in April. The firm now has about 32 lawyers in Houston and about 60 in Dallas.
The Texas Lawbook 50 ranks Gibson Dunn as the 18th largest law firm for revenue generation operating in Texas. The firm reported $136.7 million in revenue in 2020 – a 10.3% jump from 2019. Gibson Dunn attorneys rank third in Texas for revenue per lawyer at $1.6 million.
“This is one of those opportunities that doesn’t come around often,” Cox told The Texas Lawbook. “I had a great 15-year run at Yetter, which is a great law firm. But this is a chance to build my litigation practice on a global platform. This is the only move I would have made to leave Yetter.”
Walters said that Cox, who is 46 and received his bachelor’s degree at Baylor University, fits the mold of lateral hires sought by the elite national law firms – young partners who have experienced business development and professional success and still have another two decades of law practice ahead of them.
Cox said he had the opportunity to work with Gibson Dunn lawyers representing shared clients – Facebook and Salesforce.
“We had a chance to work together on work for our shared client Facebook, and they had a chance to see my work and I like their client-focused way of practicing law,” Cox said.
One of Cox’s biggest client victories came when he represented Business Logic Corporation against Morningstar in a trade secrets case in Chicago.
“The case was a complicated computer software dispute involving dense technology and allegations of reverse engineering,” he said. “We worked for months to develop the right themes and to find the best way to explain the complicated subject matter in a linear, persuasive way.”
The day before the trial was scheduled to start, Cox and the litigation team at Yetter “procured a $61 million public settlement” against Morningstar and its subsidiary, Ibbotson Associates.
In 2019, Cox and his team were hired by Netherlands-based Benelux Cosmetics to defend the company in a lawsuit brought by GHP Nail Systems in Houston.
“We were hired after discovery closed, four months before trial,” he said. “The case involved poor-quality gel nail polish manufactured by the plaintiff, who blamed our client for all sorts of problems. I had absolutely no experience with fingernail polish before we were hired. But even I knew that polish shouldn’t harden in the bottles, have a noxious smell or damage customers’ nails.”
The trial lasted three weeks. The jury unanimously rejected the plaintiff’s seven claims and awarded Benelux $2.7 million on its counterclaim, as well as attorney fees.
“Collin is an accomplished trial lawyer and is highly regarded by the Houston legal and business communities,” Michael P. Darden, partner-in-charge of the Houston office, said in a written statement. “Collin’s stellar trial skills and his focus on energy, financial services, and technology cases make him a perfect fit for the growth opportunities in Texas and firmwide.”
Paul Yetter said his former colleague is “as good as it gets.”
“It’s no secret that we have great young litigators, which is why clients hire us for their toughest fights,” Yetter said. “We’re excited to watch his continued success.”