Last week, Husch Blackwell announced it added DFW-based partner Darla Gabbitas to bolster its fiduciary litigation practice and contribute to its financial services and capital markets team.
Gabbitas joined the firm after spending over a decade as a litigation partner and a business trial lawyer at Wick Phillips, where she represented clients in arbitrations and trial and appellate courts.
Gabbitas told The Texas Lawbook this week that a longstanding professional relationship with Husch Blackwell partner Scott Weber and his team was one of the primary driving factors in her desire to join Husch. Weber joined Husch from Norris & Weber in September 2023.
“I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to practice alongside Scott Weber, who has been a mentor to me during my entire career,” Gabbitas said, noting that before that, she hadn’t been looking to leave her prior firm.
In addition to working alongside Weber and his team, she appreciated the Missouri-founded firm’s depth across the country as a full-service law firm, specifically within its private wealth team, which she felt could offer more opportunities to her clients to advance their businesses.
Furthermore, she valued using its virtual office, The Link, to further enhance her capabilities as a practitioner.
“The firm’s work-from-anywhere model allows me to seamlessly connect with the firm’s systems and meet my clients where they are,” Gabbitas told The Lawbook.
In addition to boosting its fiduciary litigation practice, Husch Blackwell, as a firm, hopes to leverage Gabbitas’ strong connections, experience and presence in the Fort Worth market to strengthen its capabilities in the area, a sentiment Gabbitas shares, describing it as one of the primary goals she wants to accomplish in her new role.
“I hope to add additional fiduciary litigation capabilities and depth in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex while also helping grow the firm’s visibility in Fort Worth,” Gabbitas said.
Gabbitas received her law degree in 2008 from the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, where she served on the university’s law review executive board and graduated in the top six percent of her class.
After graduation, she began her business law career at Moye White in Denver, Colorado, where she remains licensed.
Following her time at Moye White, Gabbitas moved to Texas in early 2013, where she joined Bickel & Brewer in Dallas before she began her decade-long stint with Wick Phillips in August 2014.