From Texas Lawyer
Out-of-state firms continue to grow the fastest in Texas, even as nearly half of the firms with the most lawyers in Texas had fewer lawyers in the Lone Star State in 2015 than in 2014.
Another 40 percent of the firms with the most lawyers in Texas added lawyers during 2015, according to head count numbers on the Texas Lawyer 100 chart. Twelve of the 101 firms on the Texas 100 chart had the same number of lawyers in 2015 as in 2014.
Five firms headquartered outside of Texas were the fastest growing during 2015, compared with 2014, led by Kirkland & Ellis, followed by McDermott Will & Emery, McGuireWoods, Holland & Knight and Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker.
Andrew Calder, a partner in Kirkland & Ellis in Houston who is also a member of the firm’s global management committee, said it’s no secret his Chicago-based firm’s game plan is to expand in Texas, largely by hiring “local folks, local talent,” and the firm continues to see great opportunity in the Houston market. The firm had a full-time equivalent of 39 lawyers in Texas in 2015, compared with 23 in 2014, for an increase of 69.9 percent. Calder said growth has continued during 2016 and the firm is up to 66 lawyers already with a crop of first-year associates starting work in the fall.
Chart: The Texas Top 100
Calder said out-of-state firms are investing in Texas offices because of the lure of work from the energy industry, among other reasons. “National firms have begun to recognize the potential for opportunity,” he said.
McGuireWoods, based in Richmond, Virginia, was one of the five fastest-growing firms in Texas in 2015 and also in 2014. It expanded to 51 lawyers in Texas in 2015, compared with 36 in 2014, a 41.7 percent increase. The firm had 22 lawyers in Texas in 2013.
Akash Sethi, managing partner of the McGuireWoods Dallas office, said the firm is growing by design in Texas because that expansion fits the firm’s strategic growth plan. McGuireWoods put down roots in Texas in 2011 when it combined operations with litigation boutique Nickens Keeton Lawless Farrell & Flack, which had offices in Houston and Austin. It opened an office in Dallas in 2014.
“Our goal when we first launched the office is to grow in both Dallas and Houston. From a startup perspective we just want to add talented lawyers into our office, but if you look at where our growth has been, it’s expanding private equity practice, labor and employment and … health care,” he said.
The firms on the list that shrunk in size the most include K&L Gates, which had 74 lawyers in 2015, compared with 107 in 2014, a 30.8 percent drop; Mayer Brown, which slid to 41 lawyers in Texas from 53 in 2014, a 22.6 percent decline; and Godwin, which had 31 lawyers in 2015, compared with 40 in 2014, a 22.5 percent drop.
Nine of the 10 firms with the most lawyers in Texas are all homegrown Texas firms. The exception is Norton Rose Fulbright, which has the most lawyers in Texas with 445 in 2015. The other nine firms, which were also among the top 10 for 2014, are based in either Houston or Dallas.
