Three Middle-Market Law Firms, One Record-Setting Year in Texas Revenues

Munsch Hardt CEO Phil Appenzeller walked into Chief Bankruptcy Judge David Jones’ Houston courtroom in February to watch the trial of Brazos Electric Power Cooperative, a wholesale power company that filed Chapter 11 to avoid $2 billion in Winter Storm Uri-related payments to ERCOT.

One by one, lawyers presented their arguments. There were attorneys from Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s richest law firm. Next onto the podium were lawyers from the elite Los Angeles-based O’Melveny & Myers. They were followed by attorneys from global legal giants Norton Rose Fulbright and Eversheds Sutherland ― each home to more than 3,700 lawyers. The going rate for this phalanx of legal talent ― $1,000-plus per hour.