London Calling: UK Firm Expands to Texas
Withers, an international law firm with $307 million in global revenues, has hired a former Winstead wealth planning and tax expert to lead its Texas entrance.
Quinn Emanuel Breaks Through in Dallas
Quinn Emanuel, a national litigation-focused law firm, is expected to announce in the next few days that it is opening an office in Dallas with two partners - one hired away from a local law firm and the second being transferred from Quinn's office in New York.
Texas-based Firm Finances: The Kingpin of Texas Corporate Law – Dallas or Houston?
While there has been great focus lately on the Austin legal market, Dallas and Houston still dominate the corporate law world in Texas. But figuring out which market is doing better depends on the measuring stick. One city has more lawyers at corporate law offices. The other generates more revenues from business clients. Find out which city is the unofficial kingpin of Texas corporate law – Dallas or Houston? Or is it a feud running on fumes? This is part four in The Texas Lawbook series on Texas-based law firms.Note: The chart in this story has been updated to correct revenue figures for Locke Lord.
Latham Officially Opens in Austin
The Austin legal market continues to be red hot with the arrival of Latham & Watkins, which tapped corporate attorneys from DLA Piper and Wilson Sonsini. Firm leaders anticipate current partners with strong ties to Texas will either relocate or spend significant time in the state capital.
Tim Durst Jumps to O’Melveny
O’Melveny & Myers, which opened offices in Austin and Dallas in June, added Baker Botts trial law partner Tim Durst on Wednesday. The Los Angeles-based firm's chair told The Texas Lawbook that he expects "more people to join" O'Melveny soon and that the firm plans "to be materially larger than we are now."
A Seller’s Market: How Covid-19 Sparked a War for Talent
The pandemic has resulted in a number of interesting twists and turns in legal recruiting; most recently, the increasing number of companies and law firms requiring new hires to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Pye Legal Group President Stacy Humphries surveys the lay of the land and shares best practices for landing top candidates.
Texas-based Firm Finances, Part 3: Content to Work Close to Home
Our Gang of 10 Texas-based corporate law firms are an under-the-radar success story. These firms do nearly all their work inside the state, and they beat the overall Texas Lawbook 50 in revenue growth and new lawyer jobs. Most Gang of 10 firms are small, but two big legacy firms confine operations to Texas – Jackson Walker and Winstead.
Updated: Texas-based Firms’ Finances, Part 2: ‘Gang of Six’ Trying to Win in the Big Leagues
They bear storied names in Texas corporate law: Vinson & Elkins, Baker Botts, Haynes and Boone, Akin Gump, Locke Lord and Bracewell. National firms continue to expand their Texas market share, but the big legacy firms still carry considerable weight in Texas corporate law. They’re not giving in without a fight and busy growing revenues and hiring lawyers in 2021. Editor's note: The Lawbook article has been updated to show that Baker Botts' 2020 revenue in Texas was $361.9M in Texas - not $336M as originally reported.
Texas Law Firms Delay Return to Office, Mandate Vaccinations
Citing the growing threat of the Covid-19 Delta variant among people who are unvaccinated, several law firms in Texas – Akin Gump, Haynes and Boone, Norton Rose Fulbright and Vinson & Elkins – have announced they are delaying the date when they will require lawyers and staff to return to the office and that employees working on-site must be vaccinated.
Texas-based Firms’ Finances, Part 1: Some Optimism, Some Challenges
Don’t write the obituary for Texas-based corporate law firms just yet. There are fewer than a decade ago, but most are doing quite well financially. In fact, 10 scored record Texas revenues in 2020 despite the pandemic and economic slowdown. Even more of the Texas-based firms say they’re doing better in 2021 than last year. And all of them are hiring more lawyers to handle the increased legal work clients are sending them.
Texas Law Firm PPP Lending Less in 2021, But More Than Reported in 2020
Newly released data from the Small Business Administration reveals the full extent to which Texas law firms relied on Payroll Protection Plan loans to stay afloat while adjusting to the widespread disruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic. But the data also shows that law firms in Texas rebounded enough to leave a fair amount of federal money on the table. The Texas Lawbook has the numbers.
The Story Behind the Merger of Thompson & Knight and Holland & Knight
Sunday night's merger of Thompson & Knight and Holland & Knight appears to have gone seamlessly. The combination meets the needs of each - H&K to thrive in Texas and TK to just survive. The managing partners of the two firms - now partners of the same firm - gave The Texas Lawbook an exclusive interview on how the merger came together and why they both think it will be a huge success.