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Don Henley and the Eagles could very easily have been writing about Southern California corporate law firms checking into the Hotel California during their constant and seemingly endless, decades-long expansion efforts.
They are all checking into Texas — and with the money they are making here, they will never leave.
Ryan Gorsche and Katie Legband O’Brien, corporate M&A partners, have joined O’Melveny in Dallas from BakerHostetler, where they practiced in the firm’s mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital groups. They will focus their practices on complex domestic and cross-border M&A transactions and private equity matters.
Three large corporate firms — all with deep Texas roots and Texas-sized offices. They are the second, third and fourth largest law firms operating in Texas by lawyer headcount. All three are in growth mode. All three reported record revenues and record profits in 2025.
Combined, Jackson Walker, Haynes Boone and Norton Rose Fulbright saw their 1,364 Texas lawyers generate a combined $1.53 billion in revenue last year — a 15 percent increase over 2024, according to new Texas Lawbook 50 data.
Leaders for the trio of firms say the first quarter of 2026 is off to another record start.
For the first-time ever, Texas has a corporate law firm with 500 attorneys working in the state. A second firm is just two lawyers shy of 500. Four law firms now have 400 or more attorneys and 11 have 200 or more business lawyers operating in Texas, according to new data research by The Texas Lawbook.
Even so, the number of business lawyers in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio is not growing fast enough to handle the increased demand for legal services from corporate clients.
Yvette Ostolaza grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in Miami, the daughter of parents who fled Cuba in the 1960s. She learned English from watching Sesame Street. As a young teenager, she lied about her age to get a job at Sears to make extra money for her family. When she announced that she wanted to be the first in the family to go to college, they told her she was crazy.
Four decades later, Ostolaza became the first Latina and first Dallas lawyer to lead a global corporate law firm — a position she has held since 2022 at Sidley Austin, a 2,300-lawyer firm with 21 offices and more than $3.7 billion in annual revenue.
The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday that it is awarding the first-ever Texas Lawbook Law Firm Leadership Award to Ostolaza.
Kansas City business law firm Spencer Fane is combining with Tulsa-based Conner & Winters, which has more than 75 attorneys practicing from offices in Northwest Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, specializing in energy, construction, health care, litigation, finance, and other commercial matters.
Omar Samji, the Houston-based lawyer whose career in power and renewables spans more than two decades and six law firms, has left Weil for Gibson Dunn, the firm is announcing today.
Another two Dallas partners have joined their former Winston & Strawn colleagues at King & Spalding. Jeff Cole and Brian Jansen were named partners in the finance and restructuring practice group.
Elizabeth King joins Houston-based intellectual property boutique Heim, Payne & Chorush as of counsel. She will lead the firm’s expanded trademark litigation and appeals practice.
Phillip Ragler joins Dallas-based Hamilton Wingo as a partner as the firm continues to bolster its personal injury and wrongful death practice. Ragler was an assistant U.S. attorney in Florida before joining the firm.
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr formally announced Wednesday the firm’s expansion to Fort Worth with a seven-lawyer office to be housed in 5,787 square feet of scalable office space on Main Street.
O’Melveny & Myers announced this week that veteran capital markets advisor Doug Lionberger has joined the firm from Holland & Knight — the sixth partner to lateral to the firm’s Houston office in the last two years.
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