Baker Botts, Gibson Dunn, Sidley, V&E and Winston Benefit from Weil’s Texas Stumble

© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.By Mark Curriden, JD Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook (October 21) – For two decades, New York-based Weil, Gotshal & Manges poured huge money and lots of resources into building a Texas operation that was the envy of nearly every other law firm. Weil attracted the best legal talent, paid New York wages and landed elite clients, including American Airlines, Kinder Morgan, HM Capital Partners and Hicks Muse Tate & Furst, that were willing to pay $800 to $1,000 an hour billing rates. The firm grew to more than 115 lawyers in Dallas and Houston and developed diversity and pro bono efforts that became the model for others to follow. In short, Weil was the paradigm of Big Law in Texas – a firm that lawyers joined, stayed and never left. Then, in a period that can be measured in weeks, dozens of lawyers have left the law firm in what its former partners call a “complete debacle” by Weil’s leadership in New York. As a result, Weil has seen its sterling reputation severely tarnished in Texas. Since September 10, three-dozen lawyers – half of them equity partners – have jumped ship to other law…