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.
“We had a great year in 2025 — we passed the one-half billion-dollar mark for the first time,” said Jackson Walker managing partner Wade Cooper. “The fact that I can use the B-word when referring to financials is significant.”
Haynes Boone managing partner Taylor Wilson echoes Cooper’s comments.
“It was an outstanding year — best ever in the firm’s history,” Wilson said. “The revenue growth was due to strong demand and thoughtful expansion. And 2026 is off to a very strong start. We are optimistic that 2026 will be a very good year.”
Norton Rose Fulbright, formerly Houston-based Fulbright & Jaworski, saw its 411 lawyers in Texas experience a year for the ages, boosted by a few monumental courtroom victories and steady corporate transactional work.
“Everything is going in the right direction,” said Jeff Cody, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global managing partner, who saw his firm’s Texas operations produce a truly historic year for revenue.
Haynes Boone, Jackson Walker and Norton Rose Fulbright could not be more different in their operations and visions. But their achievements in 2025 in the Texas legal market make them worthy of examination.
Texas Lawbook 50 data tells each of their stories.
Norton Rose Fulbright
Rufus C. Fulbright, a Houston business lawyer who represented railroads and a cotton maker, started the firm now known as Norton Rose Fulbright in 1919. Historical documents show that Fulbright’s new firm generated “a few hundred dollars” in its first year in operation.
One hundred and six years later, the global law firm with more than 3,300 lawyers in two-dozen countries had a blowout year back home, where it has more lawyers than in any other U.S. state or any foreign country other than the United Kingdom.
In 2025, Texas lawyers for Norton Rose Fulbright generated $572.2 million in revenue — a 30 percent jump from 2024, according to Lawbook 50 research.
Cody told The Lawbook that 2025 revenues were boosted by the firm representing the state of Texas in its data privacy litigation against Google, which settled last May for $1.375 billion. Several Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers from Dallas, Houston and Austin successfully represented Qualcomm in a five-week consumer class action trial seeking $650 million in damages before a United Kingdom Competition Appeal tribunal. The firm is also representing energy clients in the 2021 Winter Storm Uri litigation.
And, in an ironic twist, several Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers are representing Jackson Walker in its high-profile battle against the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee in Houston bankruptcy court. The Trustee is seeking to claw back legal fees Jackson Walker received from cases tied to former Judge David Jones’ secret romance scandal.
Norton Rose Fulbright saw “an increase in demand” for project finance, mergers and acquisitions and public finance in 2025, and that demand for legal work is up 10 percent in the first quarter of 2026 from Q1 2025.
“The Dallas market is particularly hot,” he said. “We hear about a lot of firms talking about wanting to open offices in Dallas.”
Cody said Norton Rose Fulbright plans to add lawyers in M&A, private equity and commercial litigation this year.
“We see growing across the board as imperative,” he said.
Since 2018, Norton Rose Fulbright has seen its annual Texas revenue jump 67 percent.
Jackson Walker
As the largest Texas-exclusive corporate law firm, Dallas-based Jackson Walker keeps surprising the competition and beating the odds.
With the full-time equivalent of 498 lawyers in Texas in 2025 — up from 484 in 2024 — Jackson Walker is the second largest law firm in the state. It lost its title as the largest to Kirkland & Ellis this year.
Despite growing headcount only by three percent, Jackson Walker increased its Texas revenues 14 percent last year to $517 million, according to the Lawbook 50 data.
“2025 was a year we made a lot of moves and had some incredible successes,” Cooper said. “We had a very steady litigation practice. Transactional work was up. Real estate practice was stronger. And real estate finance was way up. Our top 20 clients are a crazy array of different business sectors.”
“The one thing most interesting about 2025 was the gold rush related to power and data centers,” he said. “We have a big power group. That was a significant driver in the marketplace because it touches a lot of practices — regulatory, real estate, finance and M&A.”
Jackson Walker is also one of the lead law firms representing the energy companies in the Winter Storm Uri litigation.
Lawbook 50 data shows that Jackson Walker has increased its annual revenue by 92 percent since 2018 — from $269 million to $517 million.
Cooper said the firm is “comfortably ahead” of its Q1 2025 numbers so far this year. “We are expecting another very good year,” he said.
Haynes Boone
As the third largest corporate law firm by lawyer headcount in Texas, Haynes Boone has witnessed extraordinary expansion outside of Texas, especially in New York and London. Firmwide, its lawyer count is about 780.
But in 2025, the Dallas-based firm also achieved extraordinary growth in Texas.
The firm grew its FTE lawyer count by nine percent — from 398 to 433.
Lawbook 50 data shows that Haynes Boone’s 2025 revenue hit $446 million — up nearly 10 percent from the previous year.
“We had strong results in litigation and a resurgence in transactional work in Q3 and Q4, and that has now spilled into 2026,” Wilson said. “2026 is off to a very strong start, and we are optimistic that 2026 will be another good year.”
Wilson said the biggest headwinds he can see for 2026 are geopolitical and economic concerns.
“We look for ways we can help our clients through times of uncertainty,” he said.
Haynes Boone has seen its annual Texas revenue increase by 61 percent since 2018 — from $277 million to $446 million.
Upcoming Texas Lawbook 50 stories include:
- The Beast
- The SoCal Gang of Five
- Texas Natives
- The Texas Lawbook 50 — The Full Story & Rankings