The Texas Lawbook

Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury

More Stories

Texas Boutique Firm’s Westward Expansion Fueled by Dynamic Middle Market

In January, FBFK Law Firm announced its expansion into California by merging with Orange County litigation firm Stephens Friedland, aiming to address the needs of a robust entrepreneurial region. The integration has already increased FBFK’s headcount by more than 30 percent, as the firm announced the addition of 12 new attorneys across various practice areas last week. 

CEO Kyle Ferguson chatted with The Texas Lawbook about how the merger is going, what lies ahead and why he’s positioning FBFK as a complement to Big Law rather than a competitor.

A&O Shearman: Texas is Strategic to New Firm’s Success

The 800 partners of the newly merged firm A&O Shearman recently conducted their first partner retreat in Denmark but a big part of their focus was 5,180 miles away on their practices in Houston, Dallas and Austin. The 3,900-lawyer corporate firm, the result of Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling combining, has 64 attorneys in Texas, but its leaders tell The Texas Lawbook major additions are planned.

“We are less than two months into this new firm, but the growth opportunities we see now are significantly larger than the opportunities for growth we saw before,” said Bill Nelson, managing partner of the Texas region for A&O Shearman and a capital markets partner in the firm’s Houston office.

Akin Partners Elect New Firmwide Co-Chairs

Akin Gump, a 900-attorney corporate law firm founded in Dallas in 1945 by Robert Strauss and Richard Gump, announced Tuesday that it has elected a partner in New York and a partner in London to take over the firm’s leadership in 2025.

Foley Adds Trio of Texas Talent

The firm’s recent hires of Trey McDonald and James McFall from Jackson Walker and former Houston City Council member Ronald Green enhance its capabilities in sports and entertainment and public finance, in particular.

CDT Roundup: 13 Deals, 16 Firms, 214 Lawyers, $9.9B

There were three billion-dollar transactions last week: a shale E&P deal, an offshore drilling acquisition and a midstream divestiture. All were in energy, but they had something else in common: they are part of an on-going consolidation in nearly every phase of energy production. The CDT Roundup takes a look at what these latest deals tell us, along with the usual summation of last week’s transactions and the lawyers and firms behind them.

Paul Hastings Continues Its Texas Expansion

Paul Hastings announced Tuesday that Vinson & Elkins litigation partner Manuel Berrelez has joined the firm’s Dallas office as a partner. Since September, Paul Hastings has more than doubled its presence in Texas — growing from about two dozen lawyers to about 65, including eight corporate finance partners from V&E who joined in March. At the same time, the firm officially announced that it had opened an office in Dallas.

Phillips 66 Sells Stake in Rockies Express Pipeline for $1.275B

Bracewell and Vinson & Elkins advised Phillips 66 and Tallgrass, respectively, on the deal which advances the P66’s determination to divest itself of $3 billion in non-core assets. On the buyer side, Tallgrass now holds total equity ownership in one of the largest natural gas pipelines in the U.S.

© Copyright 2026 The Texas Lawbook
The content on this website is protected under federal Copyright laws. Any use without the consent of The Texas Lawbook is prohibited.