Litigation boutique McKool Smith kicked off the 2024 summer battle for talent this week by announcing four- and five-digit bonuses to its lawyers who have worked the most time on client matters.
Texas Boutique Firm’s Westward Expansion Fueled by Dynamic Middle Market
In January, FBFK Law Firm announced its expansion into California by merging with Orange County litigation firm Stephens Friedland, aiming to address the needs of a robust entrepreneurial region. The integration has already increased FBFK’s headcount by more than 30 percent, as the firm announced the addition of 12 new attorneys across various practice areas last week.
CEO Kyle Ferguson chatted with The Texas Lawbook about how the merger is going, what lies ahead and why he’s positioning FBFK as a complement to Big Law rather than a competitor.
A&O Shearman: Texas is Strategic to New Firm’s Success
The 800 partners of the newly merged firm A&O Shearman recently conducted their first partner retreat in Denmark but a big part of their focus was 5,180 miles away on their practices in Houston, Dallas and Austin. The 3,900-lawyer corporate firm, the result of Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling combining, has 64 attorneys in Texas, but its leaders tell The Texas Lawbook major additions are planned.
“We are less than two months into this new firm, but the growth opportunities we see now are significantly larger than the opportunities for growth we saw before,” said Bill Nelson, managing partner of the Texas region for A&O Shearman and a capital markets partner in the firm’s Houston office.
Akin Partners Elect New Firmwide Co-Chairs
Akin Gump, a 900-attorney corporate law firm founded in Dallas in 1945 by Robert Strauss and Richard Gump, announced Tuesday that it has elected a partner in New York and a partner in London to take over the firm’s leadership in 2025.
Paul Hastings Continues Its Texas Expansion
Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that Vinson & Elkins litigation partner Manuel Berrelez has joined the firm’s Dallas office as a partner. Since September, Paul Hastings has more than doubled its presence in Texas — growing from about two dozen lawyers to about 65, including eight corporate finance partners from V&E who joined in March. At the same time, the firm officially announced that it had opened an office in Dallas.
Gotta Move On: Polsinelli Expands to Fort Worth
Kansas City-based Polsinelli announced Wednesday it has opened its third office in Texas in ‘Funkytown’ with a group of four transactional lawyers. Firm leaders say Fort Worth is a right fit for the Midwest firm.
Weinberg Wheeler Hudgins Gunn & Dial Expands to Texas, Opens Houston Office
WWHGD tapped Houston attorney Chaz Klaes to spearhead its Texas expansion. Klaes brought eight lawyers with him from Donato, Brown, Pool & Moehlmann.
J. Holt Foster III Joins Willkie as Head of New Dallas Office
Foster, whose practice includes nearly three decades of experience in the energy and infrastructure spaces, vaults to Willkie after more than three years at Sidley Austin.
Houston Trial Lawyer Opens Texas Office for Boston-Founded Firm
A co-founding partner at Schiffer Hicks Johnson has left his firm to start the first Texas office of Brown Rudnick in Houston.
Texas Lawbook 50: Corporate Firms Topped $9B in Texas Revenues in 2023
Fueled by record-high contingency fee collections, significant increases in hourly rates and healthy client demand for complex commercial litigation and corporate transactional work, the largest business law firms in Texas grew revenues to more than $9 billion, according to new Texas Lawbook 50 data. Forty-three of the top 50 corporate law firms posted gains, according to the Lawbook 50, which ranks firms on revenues generated by attorneys based in Texas.
Six of the firms achieved increases of $30 million or more, and 18 saw $10 million increases. Only seven firms on the list recorded revenue declines. Thirty-five firms hit record highs in 2023. The Top 10 welcomed two newcomers in 2023 — a firm that soared thanks to a sudden gusher of cash from contingency fee court victories that were years in the making and a firm that has steadily climbed in the rankings since 2019 on a combination of litigation and M&A dealmaking.