Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Vinson & Elkins announced Wednesday that it is giving its associates and counsel “special bonuses” ranging from $12,000 for the firm’s newest associates to $64,000 for its most senior associates and counsel. Akin Gump announced similar bonuses Tuesday.
Three hundred ninety-two days ago, four women partners opened the Dallas office of St. Louis-based Thompson Coburn. The date was March 2. The lawyers had big kickoff plans, including a big office opening party. Two weeks later, a once-a-century pandemic hit. Courthouses were shutdown. Restaurants shuttered. Air travel nearly ceased. No lunches or dinners or parties. Nicole Williams and her team shifted their strategy. What did they do and how did they do it? A Texas Lawbook Q&A has the details.
New Polsinelli shareholder Jason Weber and Haven Diagnostics medical director Dr. Michael Gao look at the most recent scientific news and the impact of the approved vaccines and share their thinking about various practical and legal considerations that employers need to weigh when devising and implementing their office reopening plans.
Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s most profitable law firm, is expanding its footprint in Texas again. Since it opened its first office in Houston seven years ago, Kirkland has been the fastest growing corporate legal operation in Texas. Now, the Chicago-founded law firm is tripling down on its bet on the Lone Star State with plans to open in Austin.
As Polsinelli nears its 10-year anniversary in Dallas, The Texas Lawbook caught up with Dallas office managing partner Brian Bullard to reflect on his first year leading the office in what was a truly historic and turbulent first 12 months.
Four Barnes & Thornburg litigators have left the firm to launch Duane Morris' new Dallas office, which the Philadelphia firm says solidifies its presence in the state's high-technology and energy sectors.
How would the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted the legal business before laptops and the internet – an era within the living memory of some lawyers still practicing, when secretary-typed documents, wall-wired telephones and telexes or faxes were the main alternatives to face-to-face engagement. Would lawyers have taken foolish risks with their health – just to make a living? Would communications obstacles shut down legal practices and squeeze revenues enough to cause some firms to fail? The Texas Lawbook takes a look.
Texas corporate law firms salvaged their 2020 revenues because of strong demand from clients trying to navigate a perplexing business environment and a surprising capacity, heretofore hidden or rarely called upon, to supply those services remotely. Even though firms leapt into it literally overnight with no time to plan and prepare, remote working proved effective and efficient last year. “The pandemic impacted how we did business much more than the business we did,” said King & Spalding’s Houston office leader Tracie Renfroe.
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