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The 2024-25 Partner Promotion Announcements Have Begun

November 25, 2024 Mark Curriden

’Tis the season of law firm partner promotions.

Between October and February, dozens of corporate law firms officially announce the associates and counsel that they are promoting to equity and nonequity partners. Most of the announcements are made in December.

Most law firms promote lawyers after their eighth or ninth years of legal practice. 

So far this year, 11 law firms — Gibbs & Bruns, Katten, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, Locke Lord, Mayer Brown, McGuireWoods, Polsinelli, Simpson Thacher, Vinson & Elkins and White & Case — have announced the names of Texas lawyers that they are each promoting to their partnerships.

Overall, 63 lawyers have been added to the partnerships at the 11 firms. Thirty-eight of the new partners are in Houston, 19 are in Dallas and six in Austin. Forty seven of the 57 have corporate transactional practices and 16 are in litigation. 

Kirkland, Simpson Thacher and V&E have promoted the most new partners so far in this cycle.

Here are the names of the newly minted partners so far along with their specific practice areas and their home office:

Gibbs & Bruns

Justin D. Patrick (Houston) — Commercial litigation

Katten

Yelena E. Archiyan (Dallas) — Bankruptcy

Jessica L. Schauwecker (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

Kirkland & Ellis

Tanya Jane Embers (Austin) — Debt finance

Kelly King (Austin) — M&A and private equity

James John Lomeo (Austin) — Intellectual property litigation

Rachel Malhiet (Austin) — Tax law

John L. Polansky (Austin) — IP litigation

Jessica Berkowitz (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

John Christian (Dallas) — Litigation

Alexandra Dayneka-Hayes (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

Matthew Taylor Demopoulos (Dallas) — Debt finance

James B. Kelly (Dallas) — Debt finance

Ethan Joel Levinton (Dallas) — Litigation

Thomas Matteson (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

Jordan Rex (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

Skyler Sikes (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

Adam Wojcik (Dallas) — M&A and private equity

Ahmed N. Alrikhaimi (Houston) — Project development

Jack Chadderdon (Houston) — M&A and private equity

Susan Czaikowski (Houston) — Investment funds

Jarrod Hunter Gamble (Houston) — M&A and private equity

Peter Hyams (Houston) — M&A and private equity

Grant Jones (Houston) — Litigation

Daniel J. Kirksey (Houston) — Debt finance

Rebekah Kostelak (Houston) — Executive compensation

Charles H. Martin (Houston) — Debt finance

Nicole Dressler Martin (Houston) — Tax law

Brandon A. Newman (Houston) — Executive compensation

Orla O’Callaghan (Houston) — Litigation

Danielle O’Neal (Houston) — Litigation 

Brittany Scheier (Houston) — M&A and private equity

Gabrielle Sumich (Houston) — M&A and private equity

Brittany Taylor (Houston) — Debt finance

Jacob Volz (Houston) — M&A and private equity

Nathan Wolcott (Houston) — Investment funds

Michael Denney Wright (Houston) — Capital markets

Latham & Watkins

Christine Mainguy (Houston) — Transaction tax practice 

David Moore (Houston) — Investment funds and corporate law

Ashley Nguyen (Houston) — M&A and private equity 

Locke Lord

Nick Graber (Dallas) — Litigation

Jennifer McCoy (Dallas) — Litigation

Mayer Brown

Meaghan Connors (Houston) — Banking & Finance

Gary W. Johnson (Houston) — Litigation

McGuireWoods

Miles O. Indest (Houston) — Commercial Litigation

Chelsie A. Kidd (Dallas) — Corporate and private equity

Brian T. Robertson (Dallas) Corporate and & private equity

Polsinelli

Ashley N. Gould (Dallas) — Commercial litigation

Lauryn A. Sanders (Houston) — Health care

Simpson Thacher

Brandon E. Barton (Houston) — Banking and credit

David Bumgardner (Houston) — M&A 

Kristy Fields (Houston) —Executive compensation and employee benefits

Richard Ragusa (Houston) — Capital markets

Maya Reeves (Houston) — Private funds

Javier J. Rivera-Alvarado (Houston) — Private funds

Ana Sanchez (Houston) — M&A  

Vinson & Elkins

Matt Hoffman (Houston) — Litigation

Caroline Kuehn (Houston) — M&A

Jeremy Reichman (Dallas) — Litigation

Zachary Rider (Houston) — Finance

Robert Ritchie (Dallas) — Litigation

Winston Skinner (Austin) — Energy regulation

White & Case

Neil Clausen (Houston) — Tax law

Mark Curriden

Mark Curriden is a lawyer/journalist and founder of The Texas Lawbook. In addition, he is a contributing legal correspondent for The Dallas Morning News.

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