© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(July 20) – Twenty-nine years ago, Martin Beirne left his cozy partnership at Fulbright & Jaworski to start his own litigation law firm with the premise that there was a better way to provide legal services.
By all accounts, Beirne Maynard & Parsons was hugely successful. The firm represented some of the world’s largest corporations, including General Motors, Conoco-Phillips, Chevron-Phillips Chemical and Marathon Oil.
Beirne Maynard officially combined forces with Florida-based Akerman, a law firm with more than 650 lawyers in 24 offices across the U.S.
Akerman is the home law firm of Joseph Hatchett, the former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta. Judge Hatchett was the first African-American federal appellate judge in the South and widely respected as one of the nation’s great federal judges. He also was the first African-American judge to serve on the Florida Supreme Court since Reconstruction.
“I could not be happier,” Beirne said in an interview Tuesday. “Candidly, some of our clients have suggested that our size has limited some of the work projects that our lawyers have been given. This merger is the obvious next step for us.”
About 30 of the 40 lawyers at Beirne Maynard, which has offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin and New Orleans, are joining Akerman. About 20 of the Beirne Maynard lawyers are shareholders, including firm chairman Scott Marrs, managing partner Brit Brown and appellate practice chair Terry Adams.
Akerman opened an office in Dallas in 2009. It had 22 lawyers in North Texas prior to the merger.
Ten lawyers at Beirne Maynard, including founding shareholder Jeffrey Parsons, are starting their own Houston litigation boutique, which is called Parsons, McEntire, McCleary & Clark. The firms will share offices for the next several months.
“A compatible culture, with shared values and vision, has always been key for us in evaluating talent acquisitions,” Akerman Chairman Andrew Smulian said. “Marty Beirne is a ‘Lion of the Texas Bar,’ and my partners and I have had the pleasure of working with him and getting to know his colleagues over the years.
“We share a commitment to deliver an exceptional experience to our clients, our people and our communities,” Smulian said.
Beirne Maynard grew to more than 80 lawyers at its peak, handling a large number of asbestos cases for corporate defendants. The firm trimmed its numbers as the Texas Legislature implemented so-called tort reform, which limited the right of injured people to sue corporations for alleged wrongdoing in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Beirne and Smulian met as members of The Network of Trial Law Firms.
“We’ve had a lot of law firms approach us over the years about joining forces,” Beirne said. “Our lawyers know their lawyers. We’ve tried cases together. We share clients with them.
“Andrew and I met during the past two months in Houston and Miami, and at the end of those meetings, we kept asking ourselves, ‘Why are we not just doing this,’” Beirne said. “Today, we did it.”
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