© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
(Nov. 11) – Culhane Meadows opened for business with four partners on June 1, 2013.
This week, the firm announced the launch of its Houston office and the addition of nine partners. The firm now has 47 partners – 20 in Texas – and seven offices nationwide, including two more Texas outposts in Dallas and Austin.
“We are excited to be on the ground in Houston,” said Grant Walsh, one of the founders of the firm. “To enter the market with top-notch lawyers was icing on the cake.”
Eight of the lateral hires announced this week are from Phillips & Reiter. Jonathan Hustis, Brent Somers, Gordon Williams and James Young are joining the Dallas office. Kristen Geyer will be based in Austin.
Alicia Goodrow, Michelle Nickel and Cliff Simpson are launching the Houston office.
Former Duane Morris partner Ajay Mago is teaming up with Hustis, Somers, Williams and Young in the Dallas office.
The nine-partner group is the largest multi-attorney expansion in the firm’s history. The new partners grow Culhane Meadows’ technology, corporate, finance, international, real estate and tax practices in Texas.
Kelly Culhane, a firm founder and named partner, said the firm focuses on hiring individuals with significant experience, not big groups.
“This opportunity was unique because they were all senior-level partners or general counsel,” she said.
Walsh says the firm is looking to hit a critical mass of about 10 to 12 partners in each of their seven offices nationwide. The focus in the near-term is to build up their smaller offices versus entering new markets, he says.
Culhane Meadows takes a non-traditional approach to the practice of law. In an effort to reduce overhead and legacy Big Law costs, the firm does not employ any associates and it uses cloud-based commuting.
More flexibility doesn’t mean less sophistication. The firm’s partners are alumni of the country’s largest and most prestigious law firms, including Akin Gump, Baker & McKenzie, Jones Day, King & Spalding, Kirkland & Ellis, Perkins Coie and Skadden Arps.
They represent Fortune 500 and 1,000 companies such as American Airlines and RadioShack Corporation and large privately-held companies such as Interstate Batteries and Mary Kay, Inc. The firm was recently hired by a Fortune 10 oil and gas major.
Culhane is careful to point out that the partners at Culhane Meadows wouldn’t be the lawyers they are today without Big Law. But firm leaders say they can now bill their clients at more competitive rates.
One example of how the firm reduces legacy law firm expenses is how the firm negotiates a variable cost structure for small footprint office space. Instead of leasing out a huge office on a multi-year contract, the firm rents executive suite space by-the-day or by-the-hour, depending on the needs of its clients.
“General counsel look at our model and say it is a no-brainer,” Walsh said.
Gender diversity is another outcome of emphasizing a cloud-based work environment, firm leaders say. Forty-six percent of the firm’s partners are women. In addition, Walsh says there are a number of single fathers at the firm that benefit from a more flexible work environment.
Culhane, who practiced for eight years at Akin Gump, says the flexibility to work remotely “trickles down” to client service and leads to happier and more effective lawyers. She says the firm’s focus on cloud-based commuting frees her up to spend more time with clients on their turf.
“They want to see me in their offices,” said Culhane.
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