Free Speech, Due Process and Trial by Jury
Balch Managing Partner Stan Blanton said the firm “could not have found another group of lawyers who offer the expertise and talent” of Duggins Wren Mann & Romero, particularly in the electricity and gas sectors.
There were scores of multibillion-dollar corporate mergers and some landmark commercial trial verdicts in 2025. The year was filled with big stories.
But hands down, the biggest story of the year was the Trump administration’s executive orders against large corporate law firms, including a handful that have offices in Texas.
Each year, as the weather turns (somewhat) colder in Texas, partnership season starts to reshape the legal landscape. Between October and February, law firms decide which experienced associates and seasoned counsel will make the leap to equity and nonequity partner, transforming years of late nights and high-stakes deals and trials into a career milestone, most of them announced this month.
Lawyers at Susman Godfrey have had an extraordinary year — the “second-most successful year in the firm’s history,” according to Susman Godfrey leaders.
During 2025, Susman attorneys achieved a $1.5 billion copyright infringement settlement against Anthropic over its AI scraping of content. They defeated the Trump administration’s executive orders that targeted the Houston litigation powerhouse.
On Tuesday, firm leaders announced record high year-end bonuses for its associates and elected six new lawyers to its equity partnership, including one in Houston.
Phoenix-based Fennemore is entering the Texas legal market by combining with a San Antonio-based litigation and labor and employment firm. The move to tie up with Schmoyer Reinhard gives Fennemore its first major presence in the Lone Star State. Home to some of the world’s largest public and private companies, Texas offers a mix of practice work that aligns with the firm’s existing client base, Fennemore announced Monday in a news release.
No one knows Chamberlain Hrdlicka, which turned 60 in October, better than Campagna, and so The Lawbook asked him to reflect on the firm's legacy, consider how the practice of law has changed, and elaborate on why being "mid-size" is just right for the firm.
The firm, which launched in Houston in 1993, was patient about opening a second office. John Zavitsanos said the amount of intellectual property work the firm is handling made Dallas a clear location for expansion. (Photo by Sharon Ferranti/The Texas Lawbook)
Associates at AZA will see a bump of $10,000 to their annual compensation. “Our young lawyers aren’t stuck making other people’s outlines. They’re out trying cases, and we’ll pay them more for it,” AZA Hiring Partner Monica Uddin told The Lawbook in an interview.
Dallas federal Judge Barbara Lynn has shattered many legal industry glass ceilings, impacted the careers of hundreds of Texas lawyers and handled some of the biggest and most important trials in North Texas over the past quarter century — the civil rights trial against former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, the corruption trial of then-Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill and terrorist Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, who attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction in an effort to blow up the 60-story Fountain Place skyscraper.
Last week, Judge Lynn — the first woman in history to be the chief judge of the Northern District of Texas and widely praised as one of the best trial judges in the U.S. — stepped away from public service to join the litigation boutique founded by her husband, where she will focus on mediating complex and large-dollar disputes and advising lawyers involved in bet-the-company litigation.
As Judge Lynn enters her encore, legal experts agree that her career has had an historic impact on North Texas, the legal profession and the role of women in the law. (Illustration by William Pelic)
Despite ever-higher standards, more corporate law firms in Texas achieved Texas Lawbook 50 elite financial status last year than ever before. Eighteen business law firms reported revenue per lawyer for their Texas offices of $1.5 million in 2024. Eighteen firms also scored profits per partner of $3 million or more — though not the same 18. Thanks to scores of senior corporate lawyers now billing at hourly rates exceeding $2,000, 15 law firms operating in Texas achieved both of those criteria — up from 11 in 2023.
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