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The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

  • Appellate
  • Bankruptcy
  • Commercial Litigation
  • Corp. Deal Tracker/M&A
  • GCs/Corp. Legal Depts.
  • Firm Management
  • White-Collar/Regulatory

Mark Curriden & Richard Alm

Two Firms Race to the Top of the Texas Legal Market

Vinson & Elkins vs. Kirkland & Ellis. One is a storied Houston-based firm with deep connections in the Oil Patch that has been a powerhouse in law, energy and politics for more than a century. The other is a Chicago-founded firm that came to Texas just eight years ago with deep pockets, high profits and an aggressive strategic growth plan. Lawyers for the two corporate law giants often sit across the table on some of the biggest mergers and acquisitions involving energy companies and private equity firms. Both firms are always in the top three of The Texas Lawbook’s Corporate Deal Tracker scorecard of corporate transactions.

Exclusive new Texas Lawbook 50 data shows that Kirkland and V&E lawyers in Texas achieved record highs in revenues and profits in 2021. The runner up in their battle for No. 1 in Texas has to settle for having their best year ever.

April 25, 2022 Mark Curriden & Richard Alm

‘Feeding Frenzy’ – Texas Corporate Law’s Great Game of Musical Chairs Hits New Heights

Corporate law firms operating in Texas went on a hiring spree in 2021, using six-digit signing bonuses, promises of faster promotions to partner and two hikes in base pay in a high-stakes race to build the staffs needed to meet rising client demand for legal work. The result was the largest – and most expensive – game of musical chairs ever witnessed among the biggest corporate firms in Texas.

Correction: The previous version of this article reported the wrong lawyer count numbers for Kirkland & Ellis. The firm actually grew from 290 Texas lawyers in 2020 to 371 last year. The Lawbook apologizes for this error.

April 21, 2022 Mark Curriden & Richard Alm

Three Middle-Market Law Firms, One Record-Setting Year in Texas Revenues

Three middle-market law firms achieved record revenues and profits in 2021. All three jumped above the $700,000 mark for revenue per lawyer. All three predict 2022 will be even better ― so all three are in expansion mode and looking to grow headcount. And none of the three sees any advantage in merging with an out-of-state law firm. Legal industry analysts say Munsch Hardt, Gray Reed and Munck Wilson sit in a strategic sweet spot.

April 19, 2022 Mark Curriden & Richard Alm

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Features

  • William Turcotte’s Big Year: Bankruptcy, Two Major Mergers, a Pandemic, Marriage and a Cowboy’s Common Sense - Growing up the son of a South Texas rancher and educator, William Turcotte learned about facing tough times, long days of manual labor and the importance of a great education. Turcotte needed those principles the past two years as the general counsel at Noble Corporation. In a matter of months, he led the offshore drilling contractor in and out of bankruptcy, eliminating $3.4 billion in bond debt. Only weeks after emerging from Chapter 11, Noble acquired Pacific Drilling. In November 2021, Turcotte and Noble were at it again, closing a $3.13 billion all-stock merger with Maersk Drilling.

    “The joke was ‘You can always sleep when you’re dead,’” Turcotte told The Texas Lawbook. The Association of Corporate Counsel’s Houston Chapter and The Texas Lawbook have named Turcotte as one of two finalists for the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for General Counsel of the Year for a Small Legal Department.
    May 19, 2022Mark Curriden
  • Phillips 66 Team Used 11 p.m. Nightly Calls and Creative Legal Work to Complete $3.4B Transaction - Each night at 11 p.m. for nearly a year, Robert Task, Julie Pradel and Maine Goodfellow were on the phone discussing the problems they faced, the challenges lying ahead and the successes achieved that day. The three senior-level in-house counsel at Phillips 66 spent hundreds and hundreds of hours negotiating the terms, handling due diligence, doing the paperwork and getting the necessary approvals to push Phillips 66’s $3.4 billion acquisition of its limited partner, Phillips 66 Partners, over the finish line. Task, Pradel and Goodfellow faced multiple headwinds: stresses from the lingering pandemic, fluctuating oil and gas prices, rising interest rates, a tumultuous global economic environment and wild swings in stock prices. But they got the deal done and it is a finalist for the 2022 Houston Corporate Counsel Award for Transaction of the Year. May 17, 2022Mark Curriden

GCs, Lawyers & Firms

  • Gibson Dunn Adds Another PE Partner from Willkie - After only 16 months at Willkie, Jesse Myers has moved to Gibson Dunn. He joins former Willkie colleague, Michael De Voe Piazza, who made the move to Gibson in March. He also joins a cadre of transactional partners who have left Willkie in the past several months. Claire Poole has the details.
  • Two Energy Deal Lawyers Boomerang to Norton Rose Fulbright
  • TX GC Forum Honors Mary Kay’s Julia Simon for Ethics and Law
  • Capital Markets Pro Michelle Earley Moves to O’Melveny
  • Former Texas SG Kyle Hawkins Exits Gibson Dunn for Lehotsky Keller Litigation Boutique
  • Christopher Peponis Leaves White & Case for Latham
  • Updated — Answering a Call of Duty, KRCL Attorney Johnathan Jordan Joins Envy Gaming as VP of Legal
  • Jackson Walker’s Recruiting Chief on Recent Wave of Partner Hires, TX Legal Market and More
More GCs, Lawyers & Firms

Coming Soon

Please click here for an advance look at excerpts from Texas lawyer Marc Gravely’s upcoming book.

Firms in the News

Hover right to show full list

Akin Gump
Allegion
American Airlines
Ashford
AZA
Baker Botts
Bell Nunnally
BHP
Blueknight
Bracewell
Cardinal Midstream 
Citi Private Bank
Convene
Crescent Energy
Dykema
EnCap Flatrock
EN Engineering
Enoch Kever
Ergon
FBFK
Gibson Dunn
Gray Reed
Harrison Steck
Hilcorp
Hines
Holland & Knight
Hunton AK
Huntsman
Jackson Walker
Jones Day
K&L Gates
Kelly Hart
Kirkland
Kizzia Johnson
Lehotsky Keller
Locke Lord
Lynn Pinker
Mary Kay
McGuireWoods
Medical Informatics
Miller Bryant
Munck Wilson
Munsch Hardt
Norton Rose Fulbright
O'Melveny
Pan Capital Management
Phillips 66
Pillsbury
Precisely
Remington Hotels
Rogge Dunn Group
Schlumberger
Sentry Center Holdings
Shearman & Sterling
Shell 
Sheppard Mullin
Sidley
Siltstone Capital
Simpson Thacher
Stanley Access
Sun Communities
TG Advisers
TotalEnergies
V&E
Weil
White & Case

Lawyers in the News

Hover right to see full list

Will Anderson
Larry Barden
Will Becker
Lisa Bennett
Kathleen Bertolatus
David Beveridge
Jeff Brooker
Alaina Brooks
Shonn Brown
Brad Butwin
Andy Calder
Chrysta Castaneda
Matt Cavenaugh
Jeff Cody
Wade Cooper
Mike Considine
Jay Cuclis
Josh Davidson
Trey DeLoach
Tess Dennis
Alyssa Desgranges-Ellett
Michelle Earley
Adam Endick
Kimberly Fitzpatrick
Keith Fullenweider
Paul Genender
Doug Getten
Catharine Hansard
Clifford Harrison
Henry Havre
Kyle Hawkins
Ashley Hill
Allyson Ho
Brad Honeycutt
Michael Hurst
Scott Keller
Mehdi Khodadad
Brad Kizzia
Peter Kosydar
Chris Kratovil
Melissa Lorber
Todd Lowther
John Martin
Cynthia Martinez
Greg McAllister
Sarah McLean
Harriet Miers
Rob Miller
Yvette Ostolaza
Scott Parel
Andrew Piel
Veronica Polnick
Robert Rabalais
Dianne Ralston
David Rassin
Doug Rayburn
Courtney Roane
Whit Roberts
Anna Rotman
Casey Shaw
Bo Shi
Julia Simon
Rachael L. Smiley
Macey Reasoner Stokes
David Stryker
Saba Syed
Theresa Terrell
Travis Torrence
Tyler Vinal
Cliff Vrielink
Dale Wainwright
Mani Walia
Rob Walters
Jonathan Whalen
Kelsi White
Wesley Williams
Angela Zambrano
Kent Zimmermann

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