One of El Paso, Texas’ larger firms, Delgado, Acosta, Braden and Jones, has broken up. Three of the partners, Alejandro Acosta Jr., Hector Delgado, and John Jones, have become partners with Bickerstaff, Heath, Pollan & Caroom, which changed its name to Bickerstaff, Heath, Delgado & Acosta. The Austin-based firm now has an El Paso office where Acosta and Delgado work; Jones will head the Houston office. Two other lawyers moved to the Austin firm, while eleven of the other lawyers from the El Paso firm have found new jobs or opened their own practices. Paul Braden, the other partner of the old firm, has joined Fulbright & Jaworski as a partner, and will continue to work in El Paso.
Source: www.elpasotimes.com

Houston and Dallas-based Locke, Liddell & Sapp, and Chicago-based Lord, Bissell & Brook are finalizing plans to merge and form a 700-lawyer firm named Locke, Lord, Bissell & Liddell. After the merger is approved by partners, the deal is expected to close by August 1. Jerry Clements, the Austin, TX-based managing partner of Locke Liddell will head a nine-member executive committee. Locke Liddell is the larger firm, with 399 lawyers compared to Lord Bissell’s 300. However, Lord Bissell’s location cover more area, with offices in Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, CA, and London. The two firms have worked together in the past on banking regulatory matters and as co-counsel or counsel for co-defendants on litigation or arbitration related to reinsurance disputes.
Source: www.law.com

Lawyers across the Lone Star State are making career moves. The Dallas office of Thompson & Knight has gained two new real estate and banking partners, and three associates. Ben Tobor left Bracewell & Giuliani to join Greenberg Traurig in Houston as an IP shareholder. Stacy Blakeley has joined Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold in Dallas as a commercial litigation associate. In Austin, Sarah Duncan has joined Locke, Liddell & Sapp as of counsel in the appellate section.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

New York-based Weil, Gotshal & Manges was the number one grossing out-of-state firm in Texas in 2006, according to Texas Lawyer’s ranking. With offices in Dallas, Austin, and Houston, the firm posted $62.9 million in net income last year. Weil, Gotshal was also the top firm in Texas profits per partner and revenue per lawyer. The NY firm has seen rising gross revenues in Texas ever since it opened in Dallas 19 years ago. Following Weil, Gotshal in the ranks were Jones Day of Cleveland, Atlanta-based King & Spalding, Chicago’s Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw and Washington, D.C.-based Howrey. Net income for these top five firms totaled $162.4 million, a 4.6 percent increase from 2005.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Baker Botts Dallas has hired litigation partner and former Harris County prosecutor Victor Vital. Vital deals mostly with complex commercial matters and business disputes. His cases involve a wide range of claims including breach of contract, fraud, tortious interference, misappropriation of trade secrets, and defamation. Vital was previously a partner in the Dallas office of Haynes and Boone. Baker Botts has 750 attorneys practicing in offices in Austin, Beijing, Dallas, Dubai, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Moscow, New York, Riyadh and Washington.
Source: www.sev.prnewswire.com

Sutherland Asbill & Brennan has gained eight lawyers from Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. Partners Scott Hobby, Charles Hollis, III, Derek Johnston and John Miller, Jr., along with Counsel Timothy Dodson and three associates, will join noted technology and licensing Partner Peter Quittmeyer to create a new Outsourcing/Systems Integration practice within Sutherland’s Corporate Group. Hobby will chair the new practice. This Outsourcing/Sysytems Integration practice has over 20 years experience structuring, negotiating, and documenting domestic and offshore outsourcing services arrangements. Sutherland has over 450 lawyers in offices in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, New York, Tallahassee and Washington.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

Locke, Liddell & Sapp is welcoming back Former White House counsel, Harriet Miers, as a partner. At Locke Liddell, Miers will rejoin the public policy group and the litigation group, working out of the Dallas, Austin, and DC offices. She left the firm in 2001 to work in the Bush administration; she become White House counsel in 2005. Mier was also nominated to the Supreme Court in 2005, but she withdrew her name from the race. Mier only just decided a few weeks ago to return to her former firm; she felt she was ready to get back to work, and that Locke Liddell’s reputation and people were a huge draw to her.
Source: www.law.com

Several Texas lawyers have made lateral moves to new firms recently. Bruce A. Cheatham and Brice E. Tarzwell have joined Bracewell & Giuliani in Dallas as partners in the corporate and securities practice. Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold’s Austin office has hired partner Mike Shaunessy, associate Deborah Loomis and special counsel Taline Manassian in the commercial law practice. Additionally, Sean C. Urich has joined Winstead’s Dallas office as a labor and employment associate, while William R. Rohrlich II joined the firm in The Woodlands as a corporate associate.
Source: www.nylawyer.com

Former Justice of the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Judge Sarah Duncan, has joined Locke Liddell & Sapp’s Appellate Section. She will be based in Austin, but will still continue work in San Antonio and other parts of the state. One of Duncan’s responsibilities with the Appellate Section is to expand the firm’s work with criminal appeals. One of the leading firms in Texas, Locke Liddell has offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, and Washington, D.C.
Source: www.lawfuel.com

After Jenkens & Gilchrist officially closed, 93 of its attorneys were laterally hired by Hunton & Williams. Eighty-seven will be in Dallas, five in Austin, and one in Houston. The firm will open a new Austin office to accomodate the new hires. With the new additions, Hunton & Williams will become one of the largest non-Texas based firms in Dallas; the Dallas office will grow from 70 lawyers to 157. The new hires’ practice areas include financial institutions, corporate, financial services, real estate, litigation, bankruptcy, tax, and estate planning. Hunton & Williams now has almost 1,000 attorneys in 19 offices worldwide.
Source: www.home.businesswire.com