© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(Feb. 5) – Prominent Dallas corporate M&A lawyer Mark Solomon left Andrews Kurth Kenyon on Friday and started at his new law firm today – Chicago-based Katten Muchin Rosenman.
In doing so, however, he never changed offices.
Katten Muchin officially opened an office in Dallas with Solomon and six other for Andrews Kurth Kenyon partners – six corporate M&A lawyers and one commercial litigator.
Solomon and Katten negotiated a deal to sublease the 38th floor of the Comerica Building in downtown Dallas from AKK, which allows Solomon and some of the new Katten lawyers to remain in their old offices for now.
In an interview with The Texas Lawbook, Solomon said they plan to move all Katten operations to the building’s 37th floor in a month or two.
“Its always difficult to separate from good friends and partners, but this has been a transaction among friends,” said Solomon.
Solomon, who serves as Katten’s managing partner in Dallas, said that he expects more corporate lawyers to join the firm within the next two weeks and that the goal is to have 40 lawyers by this time next year.
AKK and Hunton & Williams are “excellent firms,” but he and his group identified key client conflicts a couple months ago that led them to start looking for other places to practice, he said.
Solomon said that he and the team received a lot of calls from other firms, but that he and Katten Chairman Roger P. Furey have known each other from their days working together at Arter & Hadden.
“It is good to work with someone we know and trust,” he said. “We like their leadership and their outlook for growth.”
With the opening of a Dallas office, Katten now has four outposts in Texas and more than 600 lawyers firm-wide. The other Texas offices are in Houston, Austin and Irving. In the coming months, the Irving office will be merged into the Dallas office.
The other AKK corporate partners joining Katten are Victor B. Zanetti, Joseph A. Hoffman, Peter Bogdanow and William L. Rivers.
William J. Moore is the lone litigation partner joining Katten at this time.
“We intend to build around our new partners and do some exciting things in Dallas,” Furey said in a written statement. “With our lawyers in Houston and other offices we were already the go-to firm for clients in Texas and elsewhere with major environmental and workplace safety needs.”
The Texas Lawbook will have more details on Katten’s office opening as they become available.
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