Perkins Coie was one of dozens of national law firms that swept into Texas during the past decade, though it did so with little fanfare.
Leaders at the Seattle-founded corporate firm, which boasts Amazon, Costco, Microsoft and Starbucks as clients, say they are ready to make a splash in Dallas.
Perkins Coie, which has about 1,100 lawyers in 20 offices in the U.S. and Asia, officially added three partners to its Dallas operation last week, plans to announce a handful of more lawyers joining in the next couple months and hopes to double the size of its office during the year ahead.
The three new partners are Richard B. Hankins and Brennan W. Bolt, former labor and employment lawyers at McGuireWoods, and April Goff, a JCPenney senior counsel specializing in employee benefits and compensation and cybersecurity.
Hankins and Bolt join Ann Marie Painter, a Dallas partner who chairs the firm’s employment law practice.
Dean Harvey, managing partner of Perkins Coie’s Dallas office and a national expert on technology law and legal issues involving artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics, says the firm quietly opened in North Texas with only a handful of attorneys but has grown to 25 lawyers.
“I would like to see us get to 50 lawyers, which is right for a market our size,” Harvey says.
Perkins Coie lost three corporate lawyers and one litigator in May to Reed Smith.
Harvey agrees that the competition for talent in Texas is heated, but he said Perkins Coie’s focus on technology law makes it uniquely positioned to attract talent and clients. The hiring of Bolt, Goff and Hankins is a good example.
“As the Dallas economy continues to flourish, our clients’ businesses require top talent to meet their evolving needs,” Harvey says. “Employee benefits law is a highly specialized area that demands a particular set of skills that April has acquired throughout her career. Her industry leadership roles and entrepreneurial spirit further demonstrate that she is well-positioned to be a great addition to our office.”