Joyce Soliman and Marianne Auld regularly field calls from law firm leaders across the country interested in entering the Texas market via a merger.
“I always listen to what they have to say, which is my duty as the firm’s leader, but I let them know that we are satisfied being the firm that we are,” Auld, who is managing partner of Kelly Hart in Fort Worth, told The Texas Lawbook.
Soliman, who is co-managing partner of Houston’s Porter Hedges, receives the same calls — probably from the same out-of-state law firms.
“They ask about our interest in joining a larger operation, and I listen carefully, but we have no interest in a firm merger,” she said.
Kelly Hart and Porter Hedges are two of eight law firms tracked by the Texas Lawbook 50 that are 98 percent or higher Texas operations with little to no presence outside the state. Combined, the eight firms employ more than 1,200 lawyers and all but six office in the Lone Star State.
All eight law firms hit record highs last year in revenues and profits, and they are growing revenue and headcount at the same pace as the mega corporate firms that surround them.
This gang of eight generated $1.046 billion in revenue in 2024 — up nine percent from the prior year, according to Lawbook 50 research.
“The firms that focus exclusively on Texas, like Jackson Walker and Porter Hedges, have found their sweet spot in the corporate law market and are doing well,” said Kent Zimmermann, a law firm consultant at Zeughauser Group.
Lawbook 50 data comes from multiple sources, including firms directly reporting their revenues, interviews with current and former partners, American Lawyer reports and other third-party sources that collect and analyze firm revenues.
Zimmermann and other legal industry analysts say that these eight Texas-only firms have made critical strategic decisions that have been successful.
“Most of them have specific specialized practice groups that may not pay top of the market but still pay well and that clients need,” said Zimmermann, pointing to real estate projects, state regulatory matters or midsized business bankruptcies and representing creditors or third parties. “They also focus more on middle-market clients who are growing and have substantial legal needs but cannot afford the top billing rates of lawyers at the large elite law firms.”
The eight Texas-only firms include five firms — Jackson Walker, Porter Hedges, Munsch Hardt, Gray Reed and Kelly Hart — that are among the top 50 law firms ranked by 2024 revenue in Texas and three law firms — AZA (Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing), KRCL (Kane Russell Coleman Logan) and Bell Nunnally — that sit on the edge of entering the Lawbook 50.
“We had another record-breaking year in 2024 — beyond what we reasonably expected,” Porter Hedges’ Soliman told The Lawbook. “Our lawyers are firing on all cylinders. There’s still a lot of growth in the Texas middle market. Those companies have sophisticated issues that they need our help addressing.”
AZA founding partner John Zavitsanos said the Houston trial boutique had a blowout year, increasing revenues by 31 percent.
“There has been no slowdown,” he said. “Anytime there is turbulence in the market or the economy, we see an increase in business litigation.”
The Texas-only eight are led by Jackson Walker, a Dallas-based full-service corporate law firm that ranks No. 3 overall in the 2024 Texas Lawbook 50 rankings by Texas revenue and No. 1 in Texas headcount with the full-time equivalent of 484 attorneys.
Jackson Walker managing partner Wade Cooper said he also regularly gets calls from out-of-state firms seeking a merger, but he lets them know that the firm has no interest.
“We like doing it the hard way — adding one lawyer at a time,” said Cooper, who noted the firm has added 97 lawyers over the past three years, including 25 in 2024. “Hours are up. Rates are up. Work is up.”
“The need for electricity for AI and chip manufacturing is creating a lot of opportunities for infrastructure projects and the need for regulatory advisors,” he said. “Wind, solar, carbon capture — you can’t help but see Texas becoming even more important to the nation’s economy. Our lawyers have more business regarding electricity than we can shake a stick at.”
“And it is only going to grow, as long as the state legislature doesn’t screw things up,” Cooper said.
Here is the 2024 Lawbook 50 data for each of the eight Texas-only firms:
Jackson Walker reported $453.6 million in revenue in 2024 — up nine percent from $417.6 million in 2023. In 2019, Jackson Walker’s revenue was $289.5 million.
Porter Hedges ranks 27th in the 2024 Lawbook 50 rankings by revenue. The Houston firm, which has an FTE lawyer count of 111, achieved $116.5 million in revenue last year — up 10 percent from 2023. Porter Hedges’ revenue in 2019 stood at $82.6 million.
Munsch Hardt, a Dallas-based full-service law firm with an FTE headcount of 155, ranks 28th in the Lawbook 50 ranking by revenue with $112.9 million in 2024 — a five percent increase from the year before. The firm reported revenue of $75.4 million in 2019.
Gray Reed, headquartered in Houston, ranks 34th in the Lawbook 50 ranking with 2024 revenue of $96.9 million — an impressive jump of 14 percent from 2023. In 2019, Gray Reed had revenue of $70 million.
Kelly Hart reported $94 million in revenue in 2024 — a five percent increase from the year before, ranking it 37th on the Lawbook 50. The firm reported $82 million in revenue in 2019.
Ahmad, Zavitsanos & Mensing, a Houston litigation trial firm, had a record year in 2024 with $72 million in revenue — up from $55 million in 2023 and up from $44.6 million in 2019.
Kane Russell Coleman Logan, a Dallas-based full-service law firm, increased its 2024 revenues by three percent — from $52.6 million in 2023 to $54.2 million last year. In 2019, the firm reported $44.4 million in revenue.
Bell Nunnally, a Dallas full-service firm, reported $46.4 million in revenue last year — an increase of 12 percent from 2023 and up from $36 million in 2019.
Texas Lawbook 50 Articles Already Published
- Texas Firm Headcount Inched Up 1%
- Susman Godfrey Scores ‘Second Best Year Ever’
- Kirkland is Texas’ First Billion-Dollar Law Firm
Upcoming Texas Lawbook 50 Articles
- The Top 50 Law Firms Ranked by Revenue Generated by Their Texas Lawyers. “The Firm’s Numbers are Just Eye-Popping.”
- Three Texas Legacy Firms Grow East, West and Overseas
- Annual Revenues of the Texas Legacy Firms — In and Outside of Texas
- Firms from Five Cities (Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and New York) Battle for Texas Lawbook 50 Revenue Supremacy.
- The Texas Magnificent Seven: The Seven Fastest-Growing Firms Added More Than $500 million to the Top 50