Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Stephanie Cagniart, an appellate attorney, has joined ADJ as a partner in the firm's Austin office from Baker Botts. Cagniart will focus her practice on complex appellate litigation in state and federal courts, according to a news release.
Lauren Valkenaar announced Monday that Michael O’Donnell has joined her firm as a name partner to form Valkenaar O’Donnell PLLC. O’Donnell is the former partner-in-charge of Norton Rose Fulbright’s San Antonio office.
Matthew N. Hudnall and Allan S. Katz have joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as partners in the firm's Real Estate Practice Group, reinforcing its real estate development, finance, fund formation and joint venture capabilities.
Dania Duncan Moreno, a real estate partner, has joined Duane Morris in Dallas from Bell Nunnally & Martin. She will focus her practice on domestic and cross-border real estate and corporate transactions, including hospitality, retail, industrial and residential projects in Texas and Mexico.
In this Q&A, Foster discusses the challenges of talent attraction and integration in the super competitive Texas legal market, offers a glimpse into what he is seeing in his private equity practice, and shares career advice for young lawyers.
Veteran tech dealmaker Devika Kornbacher Kornbacher comes from Clifford Chance, where she helped launch the Houston office in 2023 as managing partner and served as co-chair of the firm’s Global Tech Group. Prior to that, she was a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Houston for nearly 16 years.
David Nemecek, one of the nation's pre-eminent pre-eminent strategic advisers to distressed companies, is leaving Kirkland & Ellis for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, according to a news release from his new firm late Wednesday. Simpson Thacher also said it plans to open a Dallas office.
Marc Katz is leaving one of the largest law firms in the world to join the practice-focused boutique Vartabedian Hester & Haynes as a name partner. The firm has added more than 20 lawyers over the past year.
On Feb. 3, a lot of legal and data folks discovered they suddenly cared about stock tickers. Anthropic announced legal plug-ins for its agentic platform, Claude Cowork, and within 48 hours investors shaved tens of billions off the market caps of Thomson Reuters (Westlaw/CoCounsel), RELX (LexisNexis) and Wolters Kluwer. Headlines framed it as AI killing legal software. Social channels called it the “Claude Crash” and the “SaaSpocalypse.” If you work in a Texas law firm or legal department, it felt like watching a tornado touch down a few miles over — not on your roof yet, but close enough to change your weekend plans.
Let’s separate the market drama from the operating reality.
Jim Martin and Sam Kinne have joined Sorrels Law in Houston, continuing the plaintiff-side litigation firm’s expansion.
Latham & Watkins has hired prominent litigators Taj Clayton and Scott Thomas as partners, the firm announced Tuesday. The move, first reported by The Texas Lawbook on Feb. 6, significantly strengthens Latham’s trial team in Texas and across the country, adding two nationally recognized litigators with deep experience in high-stakes commercial, securities and white-collar disputes. The two litigators are expected to eventually play a key role in launching the firm's Dallas office, as both are North Texas residents.
The Texas corporate legal market has started 2026 with a frenzy of activity that includes several high-profile lateral partner moves, new office openings, new hourly rates nearing $3,000 and record-shattering compensation agreements with some lawyers being offered guaranteed multi-year compensation packages exceeding $20 million.
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