Texas Legacy Firms Search for Growth – or At Least Stability
© 2018 The Texas Lawbook. By Mark Curriden (April 30) — Amid all the fuss and flurry of national corporate law firms opening new offices in Texas and spate of
Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
© 2018 The Texas Lawbook. By Mark Curriden (April 30) — Amid all the fuss and flurry of national corporate law firms opening new offices in Texas and spate of
The 50 largest corporate law firms operating in Texas employed the same number of lawyers in 2017 that they did in 2016, but they made a lot more money. Exclusive research by The Texas Lawbook examines the business of corporate law in Texas - from revenues and head count. Several law firms had the best year ever financially and others scrambled for survival. We have the data and it has a story to tell.

With 18 lawyers, including 10 partners culled from six law firms, Sheppard Mullin announced Monday that it is open for business on the 24th floor of Chase Tower in Dallas. The North Texas outpost is the 16th office for Los Angeles-based firm, which boasts 800-attorneys. The founding partners discuss their move and their future plans for growth in this Texas Lawbook article.
Prominent litigator Mike Gruber has left the Dallas litigation firm that bears his name to join Dorsey & Whitney, a 106-year old Minnesota firm. The decision was hard, he says, but his reasoning is simple: “Its hard to compete against these national law firms." Mark Curriden has the story.
The firm has been on a lateral hiring spree during the past year that has increased its lawyer headcount in the state by 50 percent.
The firm will operate in Texas as Clark Strasburger, but as Clark Hill everywhere else.

From the day Holly O’Neil took over as the chair of Gardere Wynne Sewell in June 2013, she faced one mountain of a task: save the 109-year-old Texas law firm.

Estes said she anticipates the firm to grow even more in the next decade – particularly with Big Law continuing its exponential growth in Dallas

The move had been anticipated for months, but an agreement has finally been reached. Dallas-based Gardere Wynne Sewell is combining with Milwaukee’s Foley & Lardner, effective April 1. The new firm will be known as Foley Gardere in Texas. The combined firm, with 1,100 lawyers, 24 offices and revenues of $850 million, will rank among the AmLaw 50. The Texas Lawbook has exclusive details on Gardere’s search for a national partner, Foley’s big Texas gambit, and in-depth interviews with the top lawyers at both firms.

A new survey by the legal industry consulting firm Zeughauser Group shows that Texas-based business law firms are facing extraordinary competitive pressures from out-of-state corporate legal operations and one-third predict they will need to merge with larger law firms in order to survive or thrive. The survey shows that younger partners are pushing firms to either consider merging or face losing young talent to competitors.

Los Angeles-based Sheppard Mullin, a 90-year-old law firm with more than 800 lawyers in 15 offices worldwide, is expected to announce in the couple weeks that it is opening an outpost in Dallas. The Texas Lawbook has learned that Sheppard Mullin will open its Texas operation with a mixture of lawyers that it is recruiting from existing Dallas law firms and lawyers it is relocating from other Sheppard Mullin offices.
The long-expected merger between Virginia-based Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon was announced publicly Wednesday. The combined firm will be called Hunton Andrews Kurth.
© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.
