Gray Reed Hires Longtime Houston Exec to Lead Operations and Growth
Gray Reed has hired a veteran strategy officer with experience driving growth, the firm announced Wednesday in a news release.
Citi Law Firm Expert: ‘Fairly Optimistic Outlook for Rest of 2025’
Texas-based corporate law firms started 2025 strong, but they face multiple headwinds over the next several months. The largest law firms headquartered in Texas achieved 35 percent revenue increases during the first quarter of 2025 — triple the amount of their national competitors — even though legal demand grew less than one percent during the period, according to the nation’s leading legal industry financial analyst.
Lawbook 50: Four Texas Firms Growing East, West and Across the Seas
Baker Botts, Haynes Boone, Bracewell and Vinson & Elkins employed employed 2,360 lawyers and generated nearly $2.9 billion in firmwide revenues in 2024. All four Texas-headquartered corporate law firms reported record revenues and record profits in 2024, according to the Texas Lawbook 50. The data also shows another interesting trend: All four are growing more than twice as fast in their offices outside of Texas than they are in their home state operations.
Lawbook 50 — Texas Firms Reap Financial Benefits of a ‘Perfect Storm’
Corporate law firms in Texas had another blockbuster year in 2024. Record revenues. Record profits. The top business law firms operating in Texas in 2024 worked more hours for more corporate clients and charged those clients record-high rates — some now topping $2,600 an hour for premium services. The demand for high-dollar elite legal expertise and services in Texas came from companies and private equity firms involved in dealmaking for infrastructure and energy transition projects and businesses engaged in bet-the-company disputes, often battling other businesses or government agencies in court. The Texas Lawbook 50, which tracks the revenue generated by lawyers and law firms operating in Texas, found that 34 of the 50 largest corporate firms achieved record-high revenues in 2024, and an even higher percentage achieved record profits. Eight law firms grew revenue by 25 percent or more.
Lawbook 50 — The Texas Magnificent Seven
Seven corporate law firms operating in Texas witnessed extraordinary growth in 2024. The Texas version of the Magnificent Seven far outpaced their competitors by increasing Texas headcount by 24 percent in 2024 and Texas revenue by an astonishing 42 percent, according to The Texas Lawbook 50, which documents the annual Texas headcount and revenues of business law firms. Three of the Tex Mag Seven were founded in California, three in New York and one in Chicago. All seven firms achieved record-high revenues in 2024.
Defying Political Backlash, Susman Godfrey Expands Diversity Scholarship Amid Legal Battle with Trump Administration
Amid growing political pressure and legal threats from the Trump administration, Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey is expanding its diversity scholarship program for law students of color. The firm announced it will increase both the number of recipients and the award amount for its annual Susman Godfrey Prize, despite accusations from federal officials that its diversity efforts violate discrimination laws.
Kirkland is Texas’ First Billion-Dollar Law Firm
Kirkland & Ellis has become the baseball Hall of Famer Bob Gibson of corporate law firms — fiercely competitive and dominant, despised and envied by opponents and outrageously successful. Entering its second decade with offices in Texas, Kirkland achieved a new high in 2024 that even its Texas leader, Andy Calder, never conceived they could accomplish.
Lawbook 50: Eight Firms — All Texas, All the Time, All Profitable
Kelly Hart, Porter Hedges, Jackson Walker and five other law firms tracked by the Texas Lawbook 50 are 98 percent Texas operations with only a handful of lawyers outside the state. All eight law firms hit record highs last year in revenues and profits, and they are growing revenue and headcount at the same pace as the mega corporate firms that surround them. This gang of eight generated $1.046 billion in revenue in 2024 — up nine percent from the prior year, according to Lawbook 50 research. “We had another record-breaking year in 2024 — beyond what we reasonably expected,” Porter Hedges co-managing partner Joyce Soliman told The Lawbook.
Condon Tobin Hires Team from Libby Sparks
Condon Tobin Sladek Sparks Nerenberg has hired three new attorneys, the firm announced Wednesday in a news release. The additions — members Dustin Sparks and Jeff Libby, plus associate Rebecca Donachie — will strengthen the Dallas firm’s capabilities in corporate transactional work, M&A and commercial real estate.
Sorrels Law Launches Beaumont Office with Veteran Maritime Litigator David James
Sorrels Law has expanded its Texas footprint again, this time by opening an office in Beaumont led by newly named partner David James, the firm announced in a news release on Tuesday.
Susman Godfrey: President Trump Executive Order is ‘Unconstitutional — Full Stop’
A lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge Thursday that President Donald Trump was legally exercising his executive authority by prohibiting lawyers with the Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey from entering federal buildings or representing clients who had contracts with the federal government and suspending their security clearances. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan of Washington, D.C., repeatedly asked U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General Richard Lawson to provide evidence supporting the president’s April 9 executive order condemning Susman Godfrey for racial discrimination in their hiring practices and for “spearheading efforts to weaponize the American legal system and degrading the quality of American elections.”
GT Taps Bill Katz to Co-Chair Antitrust Practice
GT Executive Chairman Richard Rosenbaum in the firm's announcement highlighted Katz's experience advising clients in the healthcare and energy industries. Katz had practiced his entire career at Thompson & Knight/Holland & Knight.