Why Marty Beirne Rejoined Big Law & Akerman Law Firm

© 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 announced Tuesday that the time “is right to go to the next stage.” 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…