© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(Jan. 4) – Another national firm has boots on the ground in the desirable Texas legal market.
New York- and New Jersey-based Peckar & Abramson said Monday that it has opened offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston with the addition of nine well-respected construction law attorneys in the Lone Star State. P&A is now a 100-lawyer firm, with a presence across the globe. The firm is known for its leadership and innovation in construction law.
The new attorneys are all from the Dallas-based construction law boutique, Ford Nassen & Baldwin. Peckar & Abramson will maintain the same offices that Ford Nassen had in the three Texas cities.
Jeffrey A. Ford, the former Ford Nassen president, said the move to P&A was so attractive because the two firms’ practices were complementary and it gave them a seamless opportunity to expand geographically to places outside of Texas where their clients do business.
“[Peckar & Abramson was] essentially a version of our practice, with some complementary areas that we didn’t have, “ said Ford, who added that the two firms were in talks for over a year. “We had many clients in common already. We’ll continue to practice law in Texas but we like the fact that we’ll be connected to both coasts and have support in [other areas].”
Ford said that in addition to P&A’s core practice of construction law, his group will get support from other areas P&A is strong in, such as employment law and government contracts.
The partners joining Ford in the move are Timothy D. Matheny, James L. Deem and Paulo Flores in Dallas; George C. Baldwin in Austin; and Todd H. Colvard and Curtis W. Martin in Houston. Associates Christopher A. Scifres and Justin D. Holzheauser join the firm’s Dallas and Austin offices, respectively.
P&A Chairman Steven M. Charney said the firm had been eyeing Texas for a while, but wanted to wait to find the right people to facilitate the expansion – and the Ford Nassen attorneys were perfect for the job.
“We felt really comfortable that we were connecting with the right people,” Charney said. “The clients we serve will be served at the level our clients have come to expect from us.”
Charney said a contributor to why Texas was so attractive to P&A was the sheer volume of projects that are occurring in the state – a volume that only continues to increase.
Because of the volume increase, one trend Ford said he is currently seeing is the growing tendency for projects to be structured in public-private partnerships. One current example is the construction of the Dallas Cowboys’ new headquarters, indoor stadium and practice fields at The Star in Frisco – which is a partnership between the Cowboys, the City of Frisco and Frisco ISD.
“It’s a way for a public entity such as TXDOT to leverage and get more construction than if it waited for legislators to make the appropriate decisions,” Ford said. “We’ve gotten involved in a number of these projects.”
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