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.
For many of these lawyers, the move to partner occurs after their eighth or ninth year of legal practice, when they have built a body of work, nurtured client relationships and learned how to steer clients through complex deals and disputes.
So far this year, 22 law firms have announced the names of Texas lawyers that they are each promoting to their partnerships in the 2025-2026 cycle:
- Akerman
- Bracewell
- Gibbs & Bruns
- Gibson Dunn
- Haynes Boone
- Husch Blackwell
- Katten
- King & Spalding
- Latham & Watkins
- McDermott
- McGuireWoods
- Morgan Lewis
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Perkins Coie
- Sidley
- Simpson Thacher
- Susman Godfrey
- Thompson Coburn
- Vinson & Elkins
- Weil
- White & Case
- Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Overall, 64 lawyers have been added to the partnerships at the 22 firms through Dec. 18, according to Texas Lawbook research.
Twenty-seven of the new partners are in Dallas, 24 are in Houston, 10 are in Austin and three are in San Antonio. Thirty-seven of the 64 have corporate transactional practices and 27 are in litigation.
Norton Rose Fulbright, Haynes Boone, Gibson Dunn and Vinson & Elkins have promoted the most partners so far, accounting for 44 percent of the new partners in this cycle.
Of the 64 new partners, 34 are men, where the majority (21) practice in corporate transactional. Of the 30 women who are new partners, it’s a more even split between corporate (16) and litigation (14).
Here are the names of the newly minted partners so far this year, along with their specific practice areas and their home office (in alphabetical order):
Akerman (2)
Kelly Almeter, Litigation, Dallas
R. Adam Swick, Bankruptcy, Austin
Bracewell (4)
Shannon McKay, Corporate, Houston
Levi Stoneking, Corporate, San Antonio
Sarah Tahir, Corporate, Dallas
Kenni Wilkinson, Corporate, Houston
Gibbs & Bruns (1)
Caitlin Halpern, Litigation, Houston
Gibson Dunn (5)
Andy Chen, Corporate, Houston
Tyler R. Cox, Corporate, Houston
Brian Richman, Litigation, Dallas
Rachel W. Robertson, Litigation, Dallas
Prerak Shah, Litigation, Houston
Haynes Boone (8)
Heather Barger, Litigation, Dallas
Calmann Clements, Litigation, Dallas
Cody Cravens, Corporate, Dallas
Danielle Marr, Corporate, Dallas
Rachel O’Donnell, Corporate, Dallas
Ryan Pitts, Litigation, Austin
Laura Shapiro, Corporate, Dallas
Mei Zhang, Corporate, Dallas
Husch Blackwell (3)
Sean Farrell, Litigation, San Antonio
Brooke Ginsburg Guerrero, Corporate, Dallas
Adam Royal, Corporate, Austin
Katten (1)
Fabiola Fox, Corporate, Dallas
King & Spalding (3)
Zach Burnett, Litigation, Austin
Mandie Cash, Litigation, Houston
Matt Vandenberg, Litigation, Austin
Latham & Watkins (2)
Clayton Heery, Corporate, Houston
Alice Parker, Corporate, Houston
McDermott (4)
Rosalyn Broad, Corporate, Austin
Raja Chatterjee, Corporate, Dallas
James Grossman, Litigation, Dallas
Jack Haake, Corporate, Dallas
McGuireWoods (2)
Paul Chappell, Litigation, Dallas
Alexis Reynolds, Corporate, Houston
Morgan Lewis (2)
Catherine North Hounfodji, Litigation, Houston
Casey Weaver, Litigation, Houston
Norton Rose Fulbright (10)
Will Betts, Corporate, Dallas
Ellen Blanchard, Litigation, Dallas
Chris Cooke, Litigation, San Antonio
Alex Cummings, Litigation, Houston
Ellie Norris, Litigation, Dallas
Stephanie Schmidt, Litigation, Austin
Caleb Segrest, Corporate, Dallas
Jeremy Tripp, Corporate, Houston
Kristina Williams, Litigation, Dallas
Emily Wolf, Litigation, Austin
Perkins Coie (2)
Briana Loughlin Johnson, Litigation, Austin
Alex Pratt, Litigation, Dallas
Sidley (1)
Jeri Leigh Miller, Bankruptcy, Dallas
Simpson Thacher (1)
Matt Hart, Corporate, Houston
Susman Godfrey (1)
Ryan Weiss, Litigation, Houston
Thompson Coburn (1)
Justin Allen, Litigation, Dallas
Vinson & Elkins (5)
Zach Banks, Corporate, Houston
Jordan Fossee, Corporate, Houston
David Lassetter, Corporate, Houston
Sang Lee, Corporate, Dallas
Austin White, Corporate, Austin
Weil (1)
Lauren Gorsche, Corporate, Dallas
White & Case (1)
Luisa Muskus, Corporate, Houston
Willkie Farr & Gallagher (4)
Erin Kaufman, Corporate, Houston
Joe Laurel, Corporate, Houston
Omar Shariff, Corporate, Houston
Christian Truman, Corporate, Houston
The Lawbook will continue to update this story and its searchable premium database as new promotions are announced. Premium subscribers can find promotions from previous cycles here: