The Texas Trio: Different Paths to Breakout Results

Three large corporate firms — all with deep Texas roots and Texas-sized offices. They are the second, third and fourth largest law firms operating in Texas by lawyer headcount. All three are in growth mode. All three reported record revenues and record profits in 2025.

Combined, Jackson Walker, Haynes Boone and Norton Rose Fulbright saw their 1,364 Texas lawyers generate a combined $1.53 billion in revenue last year — a 15 percent increase over 2024, according to new Texas Lawbook 50 data.

Leaders for the trio of firms say the first quarter of 2026 is off to another record start.

April 18, 2026 Mark Curriden

Texas Lawbook 50: Despite Historic Demand, Law Firm Headcount Grows Slowly (Updated)

For the first-time ever, Texas has a corporate law firm with 500 attorneys working in the state. A second firm is just two lawyers shy of 500. Four law firms now have 400 or more attorneys and 11 have 200 or more business lawyers operating in Texas, according to new data research by The Texas Lawbook.

Even so, the number of business lawyers in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio is not growing fast enough to handle the increased demand for legal services from corporate clients.

April 15, 2026 Mark Curriden

Texas Lawbook Honors Sidley Austin Chair Yvette Ostolaza

Yvette Ostolaza grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in Miami, the daughter of parents who fled Cuba in the 1960s. She learned English from watching Sesame Street. As a young teenager, she lied about her age to get a job at Sears to make extra money for her family. When she announced that she wanted to be the first in the family to go to college, they told her she was crazy.

Four decades later, Ostolaza became the first Latina and first Dallas lawyer to lead a global corporate law firm — a position she has held since 2022 at Sidley Austin, a 2,300-lawyer firm with 21 offices and more than $3.7 billion in annual revenue.

The Texas Lawbook announced Thursday that it is awarding the first-ever Texas Lawbook Law Firm Leadership Award to Ostolaza.

April 9, 2026 Mark Curriden

Citi Report: Texas Law Firms Hit Double-Digit Revenue, Profit Increases in 2025

Despite weak demand, a decline in productivity and lower hourly rate increases than the national average, corporate law firms based in Texas experienced major increases in revenue and profits per partner in 2025, according to a new report by Citibank’s Global Wealth Law Firm Group. Citi’s Michael McKenney said 2025 started slow for the business law community with fears about a federal government shutdown and other macro concerns but ended the year in record fashion.

March 10, 2026 Mark Curriden

After the Claude Crash — What Agentic Tools Mean for Legal Research Vendors and Texas Lawyers

On Feb. 3, a lot of legal and data folks discovered they suddenly cared about stock tickers. Anthropic announced legal plug-ins for its agentic platform, Claude Cowork, and within 48 hours investors shaved tens of billions off the market caps of Thomson Reuters (Westlaw/CoCounsel), RELX (LexisNexis) and Wolters Kluwer. Headlines framed it as AI killing legal software. Social channels called it the “Claude Crash” and the “SaaSpocalypse.” If you work in a Texas law firm or legal department, it felt like watching a tornado touch down a few miles over — not on your roof yet, but close enough to change your weekend plans.

Let’s separate the market drama from the operating reality.

February 12, 2026 Greg Lambert

Big Law’s Transfer Portal: Elite Firms Raid Texas Talent with Record Pay Packages

The Texas corporate legal market has started 2026 with a frenzy of activity that includes several high-profile lateral partner moves, new office openings, new hourly rates nearing $3,000 and record-shattering compensation agreements with some lawyers being offered guaranteed multi-year compensation packages exceeding $20 million.

February 6, 2026 Mark Curriden

Melsheimer, Stodghill Lead Nine-Partner Litigation Team to King & Spalding

Prominent Dallas trial lawyer Tom Melsheimer, long-time law partner Steven Stodghill and seven other litigation partners from Winston & Strawn started their new positions as partners at King & Spalding in Dallas today. “I was on top of the mountain with Winston,” Melsheimer told The Texas Lawbook. “But then I saw another mountain. King & Spalding made an offer that I could not say no to, so I didn’t. King & Spalding understands that this is a war for the best talent because the best talent attracts the best clients. King & Spalding is in it to win this war.”

February 3, 2026 Mark Curriden

Brown Fox Jumps Over to The Quad, Nearly Doubles Footprint

Russ Brown, cofounder and managing partner of Brown Fox, said the full-service business boutique wanted to be in the “nerve center of the top economic center in the country.” It is the latest instance of Uptown landing a law firm’s Dallas digs.

January 28, 2026 Brooks Igo

To Launch New Dallas Office, Dechert Snags McDermott Duo Behind Tesla’s $1 Trillion Contract

Veteran corporate lawyers and dealmakers Wilson Chu and Joanna Lin have left McDermott to launch Dechert’s new Dallas office, following their high-profile work advising Tesla on Elon Musk’s $1 trillion employment contract. Their move was quietly noted in Dechert’s announcement of 20 partner hires for new offices in Dallas and Chicago, and existing ones in key U.S. markets, marking another shift amid McDermott’s ongoing post-merger reshuffling.

January 23, 2026 Allen Pusey

Balch & Bingham Nearly Doubles Austin Presence with Duggins Wren Mann & Romero

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.

January 6, 2026 Jason Philyaw