© 2014 The Texas Lawbook.
By Brooks Igo
Staff Writer for The Texas Lawbook
(March 25) – It was a good year to be eligible for partner or shareholder in Texas, especially at firms based in the state.
Top law firms promoted more lawyers to partner or shareholder positions in 2014 than each of the two years prior, according to a statistical analysis by The Texas Lawbook of 41 firms with a significant presence in Texas.
The firms promoted 142 lawyers to partner or shareholder – up from 127 last year, which is an increase of 11.8 percent. The Texas-based firms in the study saw an even greater increase – almost 22 percent.
Bracewell & Giuliani and Locke Lord saw the greatest increase of the 41 firms, promoting seven and six to the partnership respectively. Both firms only promoted one lawyer to partner last year.
“We have a strong mentor to partner culture in the firm,” said Don Glendenning, who has chaired Locke Lord’s Legal Personnel and Partnership Admissions Committee for more than a decade. “We hire associates with the goal to mentor them to partnership.”
The firm’s spike in the class size of its promoted partners has more to do with individual development than anything else, Glendenning added.
Though they don’t have giant classes of new partners, mid-sized firms Kelly Hart and Porter Hedges stayed consistent this year – both firms promoted three lawyers to partner in 2014 and eight over the last three years.
The 41 firms in the study included all of the large Texas-based firms that have announced their new partner and shareholder classes, mid-sized Texas firms, non-Texas firms with a significant presence in the state and larger litigation boutiques. For law firms with offices outside of the state, the study only accounts for Texas partner and shareholder promotions.
Here are some more notable statistics and trends from the analysis:
- Jackson Walker had the largest class of new partners (12), followed by Baker Botts (11) and Haynes and Boone (10).
- Jackson Walker has also had the largest class of new Texas partners (34) over the last three years. Four others have promoted more than 20 over the same time period: Baker Botts (28), Winstead (25), Haynes and Boone (22) and Andrews Kurth (22).
- Cleveland-based BakerHostetler promoted the most lawyers – five – to partner of any firm not based in Texas. It also saw the greatest increase from last year of any non-Texas based firms – 400 percent.
- Miami-based Greenberg Traurig and Dallas-based Winstead saw the biggest decline in the number of Texas partners or shareholders promoted – four. Greenberg promoted one compared to five last year, while Winstead promoted eight compared to 12 last year.
- Akin Gump, Godwin Lewis, Patton Boggs, Susman Godfrey and Weil did not promote any Texas lawyers to partner or shareholder in 2014.
- Seventy-six litigation attorneys were promoted, compared to 66 transactional attorneys.
- If only the full-service firms are included in the count, transactional attorneys have a slight advantage over litigation attorneys – 66 to 63.
- Of law firms that promoted four or more lawyers, transactional attorneys made up the majority of the class at Andrews Kurth, Jackson Walker, Vinson & Elkins and Winstead.
- Women made up almost one-third of the 41 firms’ new partner and shareholder class.
- Of law firms that promoted four or more lawyers, women made up the majority of the class at Andrews Kurth, Jackson Walker, Strasburger and Thompson Coe.
- Jackson Walker promoted the most women – six.
- Nearly 12 percent of the new partners and shareholders promoted at the law firms in the study were ethnic minorities.
- The percentage of minorities promoted at the Texas-based firms was even less – just under 10 percent.
- Andrews Kurth promoted the most ethnic minorities – two.
- Approximately 47 percent of the newly promoted partners were in Dallas-Fort Worth, 39 percent in Houston and 14 percent in Austin and San Antonio.
- Haynes and Boone promoted the most attorneys in Dallas-Fort Worth (eight), Andrews Kurth and Bracewell & Giuliani promoted the most in Houston (six) and Jackson Walker promoted the most in Austin and San Antonio (five).
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