Mike Lynn left the comforts of national corporate firm Akin Gump in 1993 to start a trial-focused shop with two other lawyers. They used a wooden door on cement blocks as a desk. The paralegal was also the office manager, who worked at a table in the hallway. Thirty years later, Lynn Pinker is one of the largest and most prominent litigation boutiques in Texas, boasting 47 lawyers and blue-chip clients such as IBM, Energy Transfer, Neiman Marcus and Xerox — and even a Saudi prince. In three decades, the firm’s lawyers have scored multiple nine-digit courtroom victories for plaintiffs and defendants.
“This is a story that could only happen in Texas,” said Lynn, who is now 73. The stories of nearly all law firms are defined by critical or business-threatening events, enormous courtroom victories, lawyers joining and leaving and strategic decisions on practice groups or business sector focuses. Almost all successful firms in Texas have stories that revolve around one or two legal stars — be they Leon Jaworski or Steve Susman, John Zavitsanos or David Beck, Mike McKool or Paul Yetter. Lynn Pinker is no exception.
