© 2018 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(Jan. 29) – James Waters didn’t intend to go to law school, but he did. He didn’t plan to leave New York City or Wall Street law firm Shearman & Sterling for Texas, but he did. And he never thought he would leave Haynes and Boone once he became partner, but he has now decided to do so.
“I cannot count the number of law firm recruiters who have called me to try to make offers,” Waters told The Texas Lawbook in an exclusive interview Saturday. “I really wasn’t looking this time either, but the recruiter kept calling and came to town to tell me about the position. It was my understanding of the bank’s culture and core values and mission that caused me to have increased interest.”
Frost Bank is a subsidiary of Cullen/Frost Bankers, which has $31.7 billion in assets.
“Frost like the breadth and depth of my legal experience,” he says. “My transactional experience with clients such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo are what made me attractive to Frost.”
Born in Colorado Springs, Waters was raised an Army brat. He grew up thinking he would join the Army. He received a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and comparative politics. He met his wife, Frances, in Boston where they were both law students at Harvard University. He was the executive editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Review.
As a rookie lawyer in the corporate finance practice at New York-based Shearman & Sterling, Waters was advising Citibank, which was the financial advisor in Texas Instrument’s joint venture making memory chips with Hibachi. Across the table, he met Tim Powers, who was then a young partner at Haynes and Boone. Powers represented TI.
“The first time I met James, I recognized that he was an exceptional lawyer and I thought he would make an incredible part of the Haynes and Boone team,” Powers says. Powers asked Waters if he had any interest in moving to Texas. Waters laughed and said no chance.
“Tim and I hit it off right away,” Waters says. “We stayed in contact.”
But four years later, Waters and his wife were new parents. Her family had moved to Houston. The Waters family started thinking about places to relocate and settle down. They chose Dallas.
“I liked it that Haynes and Boone had a good client roster and was in growth mode,” he says.
After joining Haynes and Boone in 2000, Waters was promoted to partner a few years later. He is active in community affairs, serving on the boards of Dallas Theater Center, the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce and the World Affairs Council of Dallas-Fort Worth.
Frost Bank is a client of Haynes and Boone’s real estate practice, though Waters has done very little work for the financial institution.
“While it is always a good thing for law firms to place their lawyers in-house with clients, we will miss James because he is such a good partner and because he’s an excellent corporate lawyer,” Powers says.
“Frost Bank obviously thinks so, too,” he says.
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