Bradley is expanding its presence in Dallas by hiring Kelly Rentzel as counsel in the firm’s banking & financial services practice group, the firm announced in a news release. A financial services in-house veteran, she brings experience managing internal legal operations, capital markets transactions and complex M&A.
“Kelly brings a unique combination of in-house leadership experience and in-depth, firsthand knowledge of the financial institutions industry that aligns with our strategic growth priorities in Dallas and across the firm,” said Bradley Dallas Office Managing Partner Robert L. Sayles in the release. “As we continue to grow our capabilities and see increased activity in bank M&A and corporate governance matters, the demand for sophisticated legal and strategic counsel has increased as well. Kelly’s background and general counsel experience position her to provide immediate value to complex acquisitions, and we know she will be an excellent addition to the team.”
Prior to joining Bradley, Rentzel served as general counsel and corporate secretary for former Dallas-based builder Landsea Homes, where she led its legal department and helped manage the publicly traded company’s eventual sale to The New Home Co. in California in a deal valued at approximately $1.2 billion. The new entity was rebranded as Risewell Homes near the end of last year. The deal was structured as a tender offer and then followed by a second-step merger, with the deal being backed by majority New Home shareholder Apollo Global Management funds. The transaction closed in June 2025.
Before Landsea, Rentzel was the GC for financial services company First Foundation, which announced its expansion into Texas by relocating its principal executive office to Dallas in 2021. She joined the publicly-traded company, which had locations in California, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas, in July 2021, and spent a little more than two years there. First Foundation eventually merged into Sunflower Bank, with that deal closing this year as the Denver-based entity emerging as FirstSun Capital Bancorp.
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Rentzel’s most notable in-house role was with Dallas-based Texas Capital, where she served in a variety of legal positions for the growing regional financial services firm over a period of nearly nine years. She joined Texas Capital in October 2012 as in-house counsel before being promoted to director of legal services just a little over a year later. In December 2016, she was named GC, corporate secretary and executive vice president, a position she held until June 2021.
Before joining Texas Capital, Rentzel was an associate at both Sayles Werbner and Baker Botts, prior to becoming a staff attorney for the U.S. District Courts in May 2006.
Bradley, which launched its Dallas office in 2019 when Sayles Werbner merged with the full-service firm, hired Jacque Kruppa last year as a partner. Kruppa had been at Texas Regional Bank for about a year and a half and spent 17 years at Hunton Andrews Kurth prior to that.
Across Texas, the Bradley had 120 lawyers last year, according to the Lawbook 50, an increase of 13.2 percent from 2024. Those Texas lawyers generated $95.2 million in 2025, an increase of 17.3 percent from the previous year.
AREAS OF FOCUS
Banking and financial services, as well as outside general counsel services
EDUCATION
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law (JD, 2002)
Rice University (BA, 1997)
The Texas Lawbook caught up with Rentzel about her move to Bradley, the trends she’s seeing and more:
The Texas Lawbook: What about Bradley’s banking and financial services platform made this the right place for you to bring your GC experience back to a law firm?
Kelly Rentzel: The primary partners in my group, Jacque Kruppa and Robert Flowers, build trusted relationships with their clients. Both have been called on to serve in “fractional GC” capacities at smaller banks, and that was a role I knew I could serve in immediately. They also have a booming M&A practice, and, having been through various M&A events as a GC, I believed I could both contribute to and learn from that work.
The Lawbook: When you thought about going back to a firm after substantial GC roles, what were the one or two non‑negotiables you were looking for in a platform or culture at the firm?
Rentzel: My only child is a rising high school junior who challenges herself in school and in her sport, volleyball. I knew I had to find a place where I could be present for her in her last two years at home, and Bradley worked with me to develop a reduced-hours counsel role. I also wanted to be in a place where I could grow my practice once the nest is empty, and Bradley’s favorable billing rates and full-service offerings made it a great fit.
The Lawbook: How do you plan to translate your experience as a GC for Bradley’s banking and financial services clients?
Rentzel: For a GC, three things are paramount: business, budget, and brevity. After 13 years in-house, I am hard-wired to be mindful of all three at all times.
The Lawbook: From your GC perspective, what did you most wish outside counsel understood better about banks and growth companies, and how are you going to build that into how you serve clients at Bradley?
Rentzel: Time is an incredibly valuable resource for growth companies. If a GC arranges a meeting between an outside lawyer and the CEO, outside counsel needs to keep his points relevant and concise. It seems simple, but I have watched multiple CEOs walk out of long-winded lawyer presentations, leaving an unfortunate GC to pick up the pieces.
The Lawbook: How excited are you to work alongside Jacque Kruppa?
Rentzel: She is a force of nature, and I know I am going to learn a lot from her. In just a couple of weeks, I have seen how gifted she is at being able to describe where we are and what she needs. That’s the kind of talent a client may not see, but it saves a lot of time and money. Plus, she launched a successful 501(c)(3) that helps underprivileged kids play club soccer. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing she can’t do!
Truly, the whole Dallas team is exceptional. I was also impressed that Bradley has deep bench of banking lawyers throughout its office network who collaborate with each other. If there’s a specialty, someone here does it.
The Lawbook: Is there anything that we didn’t touch on that you feel is relevant to your move to Bradley?
Rentzel: I had heard about Bradley’s culture for years, and many of my favorite lawyers (Will Snyder, Ladd Hirsch, etc.) worked here. Rob Sayles is our managing partner, and his father, Dick Sayles, was one of my cherished early mentors. I never thought I’d be back in a firm after a 20-year absence, but the quality of the people here, both as lawyers and individuals, made the choice an easy one.