Thompson & Knight Names Emily Parker Its New Managing Partner

By Mark Curriden and Brooks Powell, Staff Writers for The Texas Lawbook
mark.curriden@texaslawbook.net, brooks.powell@texaslawbook.net 

Thirty-eight years ago, Thompson & Knight hired its first woman lawyer in an office of 40 white men. This week, the Dallas-based law firm announced that very same lawyer, Emily Parker, is its next managing partner – one of the few women lawyers leading law firms in Texas.

A 1973 graduate of the SMU Dedman Law School, Parker is widely regarded as one of the region’s premier tax lawyers.

Parker has been at Thompson & Knight for her entire career, except for two-and-a-half years (2002-2004) when she was the Deputy Chief Counsel and later Acting Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service, where she was ultimately responsible for all legal matters within the IRS and leadership of the agency’s more than 1,500 attorneys.

“My election shows that the respect and skills needed to lead a major law firm are no longer limited to men,” says Parker. “Nobody should take on the leadership of a law firm if they don’t want to make a difference in their communities and with their clients.”

Last year, Thompson & Knight, which has 350 lawyers in 10 offices, underwent a major strategic planning process that Parker says she will be implementing in the year ahead. The targeted practice areas include oil and gas, capital markets, and intellectual property.

“We want to grow, but grow in response to client needs, especially in Houston, Dallas and New York,” she says.

“The role of managing partner at any law firm has changed dramatically,” says Parker. “You have greater mobility within the profession, with lawyers moving around more between law firms. A big challenge for us is to keep quality lawyers at our law firm to keep providing great service to our clients.”

Parker officially assumes the position of managing partner on February 15, when she succeeds Jeffrey A. Zlotky.

Zlotky informed TK’s management committee last summer that he wanted to resume his private equity and energy practice. Firm leaders quickly narrowed their list of qualified candidates by identifying the partners who could significantly adjust their practice and also garner widespread support among the partnership.

“Thompson & Knight elections are fairly tame,” says Parker. “I think a lot of managing partners start off saying they will continue with their full-time practice, but they discover pretty quickly that they cannot.”

Parker says she will continue representing her clients in the current matters she has been handling. But she says that she plans to start cutting back on her practice over time.

The list of women who have been their firm’s managing partner or chaired their executive committee in Texas is shamefully short. The most prominent is Harriet Miers, who was managing partner at Locke Liddell before resigning to join President Bush’s administration. The firm, which is now Locke Lord, has another woman lawyer, Jerry Clements, as its chair.

Former Texas Secretary of State Myra McDaniel was the managing partner at Bickerstaff Heath in the mid-1990s, while Elizabeth “Becky” Miller served a term as MP at Scott, Douglass and McConnico.

Several Texas law firms have women lawyers as office administrative partner or office managing partner. They include Patricia J. Villareal, who is partner-in-charge of Jones Day’s Dallas office; Nancy MacKimm, Jones Day’s partner-in-charge in Houston; Michelle White Suarez is managing partner of Patton Boggs’ Dallas operation; Shauna Clark is partner-in-charge of Fulbright & Jaworski’s Houston office; Maria Wyckoff Boyce is the partner-in-charge of Baker Botts’s Houston office; Marie R. Yeates is managing partner of Vinson & Elkins’ Houston office; Victoria M. Garcia is managing partner of Bracewell & Giuliani’s San Antonio office; Robin Russell is the managing partner of Andrews & Kurth’s Houston office; Lisa Pennington is the managing partner of Baker Hostetler’s Houston office; and Susan Halsey is managing partner of Jackson Walker’s Ft. Worth office.