© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(June 19) – The North Texas corporate legal industry has experienced monumental structural changes during the past year, but the business law community is suddenly facing the possibility of a major disruption that could change how business M&A law is practiced in Dallas for the next generation.
Leaders at five prominent corporate law firms have told The Texas Lawbook that Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis is actively and aggressively recruiting lawyers from their firms in what they believe is an attempt to open an office in Dallas.
For its part, Kirkland declines to respond to questions about its plans for Dallas.
Whether Kirkland is planning to launch an outpost in North Texas or is merely trying to expand its Houston office’s capabilities, evidence is mounting that the firm is seeking to add corporate M&A talent in the Dallas area.
“Kirkland has loomed large over Houston since it opened there four years ago and now it is starting to loom large over Dallas.” — Kent Zimmermann, industry advisor
The Texas Lawbook has learned that Kirkland, which is one of the largest, richest and most aggressive law firms in the world, has quietly hired a half-dozen experienced corporate transactional lawyers in Dallas and is pursuing at least a dozen more to work for the firm’s fast growing private equity practice.
Kirkland’s Houston office, which is led by Andy Calder, has an abundance of M&A work from New York-based private equity firm The Blackstone Group. The firm needs experienced lawyers to handle all the work.
Lawyers, speaking to The Texas Lawbook on the condition that they not be identified, said that recruiters for Kirkland are offering six-digit signing bonuses to associates who are in their sixth, seventh and eighth years of practice and who have significant experience in handling mergers and acquisitions involving private equity firms.
In addition, Kirkland is reportedly offering even larger bonuses to “counsel” at targeted firms and making them non-equity partners if they agree to make the move.
The Texas Lawbook has learned that Kirkland has hired Ryan Gorsche, who was an M&A counsel at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in Dallas for the past six years, as a partner attached to its Houston office. While at Weil, Gorsche was involved in several major transactions, including SoftBank’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Fortress Investment, Apache Corp. in a $3 billion deal with Chinese-owned Sinopec, and CEC Entertainment in its $1.3 billion transaction with Apollo Global taking the company private.
In May, Kirkland hired corporate M&A and tax lawyer David Wheat from KPMG in Dallas. Wheat is a former M&A partner at Thompson & Knight. Kirkland lists Wheat as a partner in its Houston office, but close friends say that he plans to stay and practice in Dallas.
Kirkland also has additional commitments from one counsel and a small handful of experienced associates from Weil in Dallas, but those lateral departures have not yet been announced, according to lawyers with knowledge of the moves.
“Kirkland has loomed large over Houston since it opened there four years ago and now it is starting to loom large over Dallas,” says Chicago-based legal industry advisor Kent Zimmermann of the Zeughauser Group.
Kirkland opened its Houston office in April 2014 with just a handful of lawyers. The firm now has more than 130 attorneys working in its Houston operation, where they generated an estimated $187 million in revenues in 2017.
A Dallas-based energy company general counsel informed of Kirkland’s possible move said, “Wow – that would be huge news. Look what they did in Houston.”
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